'Overcoming difficulties' of U23 Vietnam in the first leg final match against U23 Thailand

Because there are up to 16 people infected with Covid-19, it is considered that there are not enough players registered to compete and can be considered a 0-3 loss and eliminated from the tournament.

But 120 minutes, even 60 minutes before the match, 6 reinforcements traveled by land all night without sleep and by air to be present in time to register and 3 people were put on the field from the start.

Then a result could not be more wonderful from the rare courage of a young team, many of whom have not trained together, even some who have not been able to train together with the team for a long time and just follow the group waiting for the opportunity to go deep to maybe join the battle... The 1-0 victory from the 29th minute, named after author Trung Thanh, a name still quite unfamiliar to experts and fans, was enough for U23 Vietnam to take the top spot in the group and be ready to make history in the upcoming matches.

U23 Vietnam's celebration. Photo: Internet

After the match, coach Dinh The Nam as well as the goal scorer Trung Thanh both humbly acknowledged that "it was a lucky match" for U23 Vietnam and "my lucky goal". Humility is never too much, but it can be clearly seen that if U23 Thailand handled the situation better and finished better, the modesty from the youth team coach would have been well-founded. The situation of being pressed and robbed of the ball by the right-backU23 VietnamThis led to the opponent having the opportunity to cross the ball hard inside, but the main striker Teerasak (who scored twice in the match against Singapore and “vowed” to score against U23 Vietnam before the match) kicked the ball over the bar. Not to mention that before that, from a central attack situation, Niphitphon also kicked the ball too weakly to make any difference…

Meanwhile, the new players, the replacements, shined at the right time more than ever. That was Trung Thanh with a technical and "strange" free kick that made the U23 Thailand goalkeeper and the tall defenders stand by helplessly. That was goalkeeper Xuan Hoang, who replaced the number 1 goalkeeper Y Eli Nie, who had a brilliant match, successfully blocking all the opponent's shots as well as the missed clearance of his teammate Quang Thinh. That was Phan Ba ​​Quyen who unexpectedly entered the field from the beginning with the utmost anxiety of the knowledgeable people (because he was injured, he only registered the list to have enough players as required) but "stayed" firmly in the midfield for more than 70 minutes of play, discouraging the agile midfielders on the other side of the battle line...

When knowing the information about key players infected with Covid-19 such as Y Eli Nie, Quang Nho, Xuan Tien... unable to play and especially in the first minutes of the match, U23 Vietnam was pressured by the opponent, many people expressed concern about a bad outcome for coach Dinh The Nam and his team.

With a reasonable strategy, U23 Vietnam solved the problem of lacking forces in the match with the top team in the region. Photo: Internet

But with real caution and high confidence, U23 Vietnam showed that the will to unite and the strength of the community can help the team defeat Covid-19, defeat themselves to defeat the opponent. The key players who are lucky enough not to have Covid-19 such as Xuan Quyet, Van Tung, Thanh Khoi, Quoc Viet... are truly a spiritual and professional support to connect the old with the new, the healthy with the one who just stayed up all night, the one who has not recovered from an injury with the one who just passed the minute lying on the field because of an opponent's foul...

Thanh Khoi always showed the tenacity and resilience of a “lungless man” when he was present all over the field, at every hot spot in the midfield. Quoc Viet was always ready for a sprint as if waiting. And especially, if there was no neat escape on the left wing by Van Tung forcing the opposing defender to commit a foul, there would not have been a free kick leading to Trung Thanh’s beautiful goal as mentioned above?

U23 Vietnam prepares for the U23 Southeast Asian tournament in Cambodia. Photo: Archive

To see, saying that U23 Vietnam is lucky has a basis, but above all, it is still a combination of many efforts, many collective contributions and excellence in each position on the field. It is very possible that U23 Vietnam will meet U23 Thailand again in the final match if there are no big surprises due to the Covid-19 epidemic, for example. The Thai people have just congratulated Mr. Dinh The Nam and his team and made an appointment to meet U23 Vietnam in the final match, along with a challenge that it is not known "which cat will bite which mouse", that this is just a group stage match, just the "first leg of the final"...

It was definitely a match worth watching and nothing could be predicted, even though the opponent had just been truly powerless against U23 Vietnam. Only when they win the final match will things become clear about the development of Vietnamese youth football compared to their rival Thailand. Is that a challenge from Vietnamese football to the biggest rival in the region when the 31st SEA Games and the 2022 AFF Cup are waiting to be resolved ahead?