Three concerns after U23 Vietnam's hard-fought victory

U23 Vietnam officially passed the group stage of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament with 2 wins against Laos and Cambodia. With 6 points, 5 goals and 1 loss, U23 Vietnam basically achieved the goal set before the tournament, but it is difficult to say that Khuat Van Khang and his teammates played well against weak opponents.

Lack of concentration in defense

Nguyen Hieu Minh scored 2 goals in the match against Laos but a series of his plays made fans "heart-stopping" in the match against Cambodia. The PVF-CAND center-back continuously lost the ball and put the defense on high alert. After that, he and his teammates defended carelessly, allowing the opponent to score an equalizer to tie the score 1-1.

Hieu Minh scored for U23 Vietnam.

Besides Hieu Minh, some other players like Phi Hoang - Anh Quan also often pass the ball wrongly even though they are not pressured by the opponent. Perhaps, they need more time to connect and form a solid block in front of Trung Kien's goal.

Midfielder not creative enough

Laos and Cambodia are of course weak opponents and cannot be a strong enough test for the U23 Vietnam midfield. In the match against Laos, Thai Son was trusted to start. The star of Dong A Thanh Hoa controlled the rhythm well, showing superiority in one-on-one battles, but many of his passes went straight to the opponent's feet.

Nguyen Phi Hoang played a good role.

In the second match, Xuan Bac and Van Truong are both mobile, skillful central midfielders with good passing ability. However, in reality, U23 Vietnam was stuck in many moments. The creativity of the "golden star warriors" depends a lot on Khuat Van Khang. When he was closely marked, the attacking lines became less dynamic.

Bad finishing

The statistics after the group stage will make fans surprised about U23 Vietnam. Dinh Bac is the only striker to score after the first 2 matches. The goals of U23 Vietnam were contributed by defenders such as Hieu Minh (2 goals), Ly Duc (1 goal) or midfielder Khuat Van Khang (1 goal).

Ly Duc scored for U23 Vietnam.

U23 Vietnam still knows how to create opportunities for themselves but Quoc Viet's finishing is not good. Even his teammates have missed the scoring moment in an inexplicable way. Viktor Le - the Vietnamese-American player who is shining in V.League has not completed his task when playing as a striker. Obviously, coach Kim Sang-sik must work more with his students to improve their finishing ability.

Mai Phuong - Vtcnews.vn

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ba-noi-lo-sau-tran-thang-nhoc-nhan-cua-u23-viet-nam-ar955800.html