AFC U23 Championship 2020: 3 difficulties and 2 advantages

Now with the strong rise in the past 2 years, Vietnamese football has been recognized by its opponents. Instead of mentioning Thailand, recently the Indonesian press, Malaysia, and even the media of the Golden Temple country have continuously mentioned the U23 and the Vietnamese team.

Images of Mr. Park, Van Hau, Quang Hai are constantly updated on the front pages of regional sports sites. Vietnam's 3-defender style of play has been analyzed by military leaders and ways to counter it have been found.

3 difficulties

Vietnamese football under the "wizard" Park Hang-seo has gradually erased the trembling and nervousness, because any opponent can become his defeated opponent. Photo: VFF

Unlike 2 years ago, the 2020 AFC U23 Championship will select 3 teams to participate in the 2022 Tokyo Olympics, so apart from Japan, which is sure to have a ticket as the host, the remaining 15 teams are more determined. Of course, because of that, the preparation process of the teams will be paid much more attention. The fact that U23 Iran refused to play a friendly match with U23 Vietnam has partly proven that.

Next, as runner-up, U23 Vietnam is no longer the secret of the tournament. Vietnam's personnel and playing style are regularly updated by the opponents. The U23 Vietnam team will have the opportunity to face 3 big opponents in the upcoming U23 Asia group stage in Thailand, including UAE, DPRK and Jordan. According to the draw, if only second in Group D, Coach Park and his team will inevitably enter the quarterfinals, facing U23 Korea in Group C, which has long been a nemesis of Vietnamese football.

Mr. Park Hang-seo is the leading coach in Southeast Asia, but at the 2020 AFC U23 Championship in Thailand, he will meet many famous coaches. Mr. Maciej Skorża, the UAE U23 coach, has been in charge of the famous Polish club Legia Warszawa since 2011.

Meanwhile, coach Ju Song-il of North Korea U23 also has a comprehensive football philosophy, using physical strength to crush the opponent. North Korea U23 is an opponent worth being wary of, this is a team that regularly participated in the 3 previous AFC U23 Championships.

Coach Kader of U23 Jordan modestly said: "This can be considered the most balanced and difficult group in the 2020 AFC U23 Championship. U23 Jordan has to face experienced and high-quality opponents." But Mr. Kader still hopes that U23 Jordan has a big ambition in the 2020 AFC U23 Championship, which is to be in the Top 3 to win a ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Mr. Kader has also brought his troops to Malaysia to find a team with a similar playing style to U23 Vietnam to train them.

2 advantages

U23 Vietnam is training in Korea. Photo: VFF

The most favorable is the U23 Vietnam squad that has just had 7 training matches at the SEA Games. Except for Trong Hoang, Hung Dung, Van Hau, that is Mr. Park's strongest force as when he needs to win decisive matches such as the semi-finals and finals of the SEA Games, he always deploys the starting lineup like that. The players in Mr. Park's hands are all rich in talent and are on a very high morale after winning the 30th SEA Games.

In terms of tactics compared to 2 years ago, the U23 Vietnam team's playing style will become more unpredictable. If in the 2018 U23 Asian Cup, we only played rigidly and simply with a 3-4-3 formation, but now coach Park has experienced success with a 2-forward playing style in a 5-3-2 system (or 3-5-2). The diversity of playing styles will give Mr. Park more options in this tournament.

Many experts believe that, as the "underdog", Mr. Park will still prioritize playing with 1 striker, but when necessary, he will put both Tien Linh and Duc Chinh into play. Currently, U23 Vietnam has played very smoothly with both tactical schemes, and the personnel in Mr. Park's hands allow him to do that.

In addition to his ability to find and discover good players who fit his teammates’ playing style, Mr. Park also has a special talent for responding to each situation and opponent to choose the most optimal solution. Vietnamese football under the “wizard” Park Hang-seo has gradually erased the trembling and nervousness, because any opponent can become his defeated opponent.

Two years have passed, Mr. Park has also had the opportunity to understand more deeply about Vietnamese football and his students. There are still 6-7 players who fought with him in Changzhou (China) and were trained through matches against regional and continental teams./.