Controversial goal and a fatal weakness of the Vietnam U22 team.

Following the match between Vietnam U22 and Laos U22 at Rajamangala Stadium on the evening of December 3rd, Dinh Bac's controversial goal became a hot topic in the media and on social networks across Southeast Asia.

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The U22 Vietnam attack still raises many concerns (Photo: Anh Khoa).

Notably, this controversial goal helped the Vietnam U22 team secure a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Laos U22. Clearly, although Coach Kim Sang Sik's team achieved their goal of winning 3 points, this result is hardly satisfying.

On social media, many fans believe that the U22 Vietnam team's playing style is problematic. The team's gameplay lacks ideas, and they are quite slow in the final stages of situations. In addition, the finishing ability of the U22 Vietnam attack is also questionable.

On television, coach Pham Minh Duc wondered: "I don't know whether to say that the Laos U22 team played well or the Vietnam U22 team played poorly."

It's important to emphasize that these issues have been discussed quite a lot in both the national team and the U22 Vietnam team over a long period. In the Panda Cup 2025 friendly tournament, U22 Vietnam only scored one goal in three matches against U22 South Korea, U22 China, and U22 Uzbekistan. Of those, U22 Vietnam's only goal came from a mistake by U22 China.

Statistics show that none of the U22 Vietnam players are among the top 15 goalscorers in this season's V-League. The top scorer, Quoc Cuong, has only 3 goals. Even Dinh Bac, who scored a brace against U22 Laos, hasn't scored a single goal yet.

In fact, coach Kim Sang Sik has clearly recognized the weaknesses in the team's attack but has yet to find a way to improve this weakness. Expert Pham Minh Duc pointed out the problem of the Vietnam U22 team: "Finishing is an issue that coach Kim Sang Sik clearly identified as needing improvement, but the Vietnam U22 team has yet to do so."

In defense, the Vietnam U22 team still made positional errors. For example, the situation involving Ly Duc. If the opponent had a different, higher-quality player who could overpower the defender and shoot with his left foot, we would have conceded a goal.”

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The finishing ability of the Vietnam U22 team is a major problem (Photo: Anh Khoa).

Even striker Dinh Bac frankly acknowledged the team's weakness: "U22 Vietnam imposed their game against U22 Laos but missed many opportunities."

In any case, the most important thing for the Vietnam U22 team is to secure all three points in their opening match at the SEA Games 33. This will help the team relieve some pressure before facing Malaysia U22 in the final match.

However, this was not a game that scored points in terms of technical skill for Coach Kim Sang Sik's team. The shortcomings in the match against U22 Laos will be learned from by the coaching staff and will be used to further improve the team in the remainder of the SEA Games 33.

The difference in this year's tournament is that teams play fewer matches (a maximum of 4) and have more rest. This could help the Vietnam U22 team "gain momentum" and have more time to improve. The most important thing for the team remains finding their peak form at the right time and achieving the goal of winning the SEA Games gold medal.

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