Round of 16 ASIAD 18: Vietnam Olympic team can dream of "Changzhou 2.0"

According to the bracket announced by the Organizing Committee, Vietnam Olympic Team is fully capable of repeating the achievement that Vietnam U23 Team achieved at the AFC U23 Championship in Changzhou earlier this year. The top position in Group D that Vietnam Olympic Team achieved has been valuable, when Bahrain Olympic Team successfully came from behind to defeat Malaysia Olympic Team, who were certain to win Group E regardless of the result of the final match.

Before the match between Olympic Bahrain and Olympic Malaysia took place, Vietnamese fans who followed the updated results had considered the possibility of Olympic Vietnam meeting Olympic Saudi Arabia in the round of 16, after the team unexpectedly lost to Olympic DR Congo 0-3 in the last match of the group stage. However, Olympic Bahrain defeated Olympic Malaysia 3-2 and will meet Olympic Vietnam in the knockout round.

In the past, Vietnamese football had met Bahrain once at the national team level in 2007. At that time, Vietnam won Bahrain 5-3. At the U23 level, Vietnam also met Bahrain once in 2014 and won 3-0. With an outstanding head-to-head record, plus rising form and confidence, Olympic Vietnam is completely capable of overcoming Olympic Bahrain once again.

If they win against Olympic Vietnam, they will meet the winner of the match between Olympic Palestine and Olympic Syria. In this match, Olympic Palestine is highly rated. But Vietnamese fans must not forget that at the four-team tournament - Vinaphone Cup 2018 that just took place in Vietnam, Olympic Vietnam defeated U23 Palestine. If they meet again, Coach Park Hang-seo and his team have nothing to fear from their opponents.

If they make it to the semi-finals, Vietnam Olympic will face a real challenge. In the Vietnam Olympic bracket, the most notable match in the round of 16 is the Korean Olympic - Iranian Olympic. Due to the unexpected loss to Malaysia Olympic in the group stage, Korea Olympic only got second place in group E.

Therefore, Son Heung-min and his teammates will face pressure right from the round of 16. The winner of this match will meet the winner of the Uzbekistan Olympic - Hong Kong Olympic match, in which Uzbekistan Olympic is of course rated much higher.

South Korea and Malaysia Olympic teams both face big challenges in the round of 16.

From the analysis of the matches of this bracket, Vietnam Olympic will only face not too heavy challenges in the round of 16 and the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Korea Olympic, Iran Olympic and Uzbekistan Olympic will have to compete fiercely to compete for a ticket to the semi-finals. At that time, if present in the semi-finals, Vietnam Olympic can very well benefit, because the opponent has significantly reduced physical strength as well as force.

In the remaining bracket, Olympic China vs Olympic Saudi Arabia is a very interesting match in the round of 16. In addition, the focus will be on the match between Olympic Malaysia and Olympic Japan.

In the other two matches of this bracket, the host team Indonesia is better than the UAE Olympic team in many aspects, while the DPRK Olympic team is considered to be superior to the Bangladesh Olympic team. In this bracket, if they create another surprise like defeating the Korean Olympic team in the group stage, the Malaysian Olympic team can meet the Chinese Olympic team in the quarterfinals, while the Indonesian Olympic team can pass the round of 16 and face the DPRK Olympic team. At this round, anything can happen.

With the developments and the clearly defined matches and brackets, the Vietnam Olympic team has “seen” a great opportunity to make history. The hope of an ASIAD medal, even a gold medal, is no longer unrealistic, because the Vietnam Olympic team has all the elements to be successful. The dream of “Changzhou 2.0” is completely possible to become a reality, if the Vietnam Olympic players play to their full potential and have a little more luck.