Win without conceding a goal: Easy or difficult?

Those are truly proud achievements of the young champions of continental and regional football, although it is clear that the level of the tournaments is completely different in every aspect.

In2022 AFC U23 Championship Finals, U23 Saudi Arabia went through 6 matches keeping a clean sheet, in which the first credit belonged to goalkeeper Nawaf Alaqidi - who was voted the best goalkeeper of the tournament. But to reach victory, U23 Saudi Arabia had an extremely sharp attack when they shot on target 30 times, scoring 13 goals by 9 players, striker Ayman Yahya -7 alone scored 3 goals and this striker was voted the best player of the tournament. During the process of reaching the victorious final, U23 Saudi Arabia also had a 0-0 draw with U23 Japan in the group stage.

U23 Saudi Arabia won the 2022 AFC U23 Championship. Photo courtesy

The impressive numbers mentioned above still do not fully explain why Saudi Arabia U23 won the championship for the first time so convincingly in this tournament. First of all, this U23 squad participating in the tournament has the most national players compared to the remaining teams, in which the 22-year-old talent Firas, who has played 22 times for the national team, scored 6 goals, is considered the greatest talent of this Gulf country's football.

But most importantly, this is a team with a balanced technical ability, outstanding speed and smooth coordination in all spaces and times of each match. Having been through a lot of battles on many fronts, they show their maturity and intelligence against all opponents. The ability to control the ball, control the game, and trap the opponent... is always demonstrated by the players skillfully and effectively. Of course, luck goes hand in hand with the above mentioned abilities. Remember, in the quarter-final match againstU23 Vietnam, if Minh Binh's shot had been luckier, all of Saudi Arabia's U23 records could have been "erased" from that point on and things could have turned in a different direction that was not beneficial for this potential team.

At the regional football level, at the 31st SEA Games, as many people know, U23 Vietnam also achieved an unprecedented result of winning the Championship after 6 matches without conceding any goals. U23 Vietnam scored 8 goals, by 6 players, of which captain Hung Dung scored 2 goals. U23 Vietnam also experienced a 0-0 draw against U23 Philippines in the group stage.

U23 Vietnam. Photo archive

However, it can be seen that U23 Vietnam will have to face great difficulties to win the final victory when the opponents in the region have long been "familiar with and have figured out" the playing style and personnel of the opponents. After a successful opening victory against the most "tough" opponent, U23 Indonesia (3-0), Mr. Park Hang-seo's team began to face difficulties against U23 Philippines (0-0), and struggled to overcome U23 Myanmar (1-0) in the group stage, then U23 Malaysia (1-0 at the end of the second extra time of the semi-final) and U23 Thailand (1-0) in the final.

The common point is that winning any tournament is always difficult, but winning without conceding a goal is much more difficult. U23 Vietnam and U23 Saudi Arabia did this extremely difficult thing in different ways, at different levels, but both stemmed from a solid defense, an unpredictable playing style and a sharp attack, not just the strikers.

It is interesting that the two teams U23 Vietnam and U23 Saudi Arabia have just met in the quarter-finals of the 2022 U23 Asian Cup and in fact, the two teams have fully demonstrated their superior abilities. The 2-0 victory of U23 Saudi Arabia is a specific number that proves their experience and wisdom beyond their age, but what happened in the first half of this match also shows that U23 Vietnam is not an easy opponent to bully.

U23 Vietnam was praised by Chinese press. Photo archive

The opponents from the Gulf region had to struggle to withstand the attacks of U23 Vietnam and the final defeat gave young players Van Tung, Van Truong, Van Khang... valuable lessons. This match also showed that if we know how to train and use young players, especially the necessary steps of rubbing shoulders in top football environments, Vietnamese football can achieve good results in the near future and the current direction and approach is the right direction and urgent.

After the success in the region with the Vietnam National Team as well as the U23 Vietnam, when entering the continental and higher world arenas, Vietnamese football needs to implement many different advanced methods in parallel in addition to learning directly from large and small tournaments. When Quang Hai and some other players are preparing to go to Europe and Asia to compete at a higher level, the young stars who have just been tested and discovered under Mr. Gong Oh-kyun need a real environment to practice and develop. When and only when those things are done well, will there be an opportunity to play at their best, not only to win the championship without conceding any goals at the regional level and then advance to the continental level, as the U23 Vietnam and U23 Saudi Arabia have done convincingly recently.