"Hold the gold, don't let it fall"

08:30, September 21, 2023

At 6:30 pm tonight (September 21), the Vietnam Olympic team will play against Iran Olympic team. We have had our first victory against Mongolia, while Saudi Arabia drew with Iran. Will we be able to open the door to the round of 16 when the opportunity is not small?

If nothing extraordinary happens, we will most likely finish third in Group B. One of the possible scenarios is losing to both Iran and Saudi Arabia. At that time, the Vietnam Olympic Team will have to compare their performance with the 4 third-placed teams in Groups A, D, E, F to determine the 4 third-placed teams with the best performance to enter the round of 16 of men's football at the 2023 ASIAD.

Because the number of teams in the groups is not equal, according to the regulations, the results of the bottom team in groups with 4 teams are not counted when comparing the achievements between the 5 third-placed teams in groups A, B, D, E, F. Thus, if the Vietnam Olympic team ranks third in group B, our 4-2 victory over Mongolia cannot be used to compare achievements.

If Vietnam loses to both Iran and Saudi Arabia, when comparing the results with the 4 third-placed teams in groups A, D, E, F, we will have no points and the goal difference will be <0 (negative goal difference). Vietnam will be eliminated from the group stage if its results are worse than the 4 third-placed teams in groups A, D, E, F.

The danger was foreseen. Simply, the task of coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team is to earn at least 1 point against the two opponents Iran or Saudi Arabia, or at least avoid a heavy loss to keep the hope of passing the group stage. A victory against the two remaining opponents to get a direct ticket to the next round is too great. We still have the right to dream of that and start nurturing the desire from this afternoon.

Striker Quoc Viet (middle) is a great hope as he scored two goals against Olympic Mongolia.

Iran's preparation plan was disrupted due to poor performance in the 2024 U23 Asian qualifiers. Accordingly, the team's orientation was to use the force that had just played in the 2024 U23 Asian qualifiers to participate in the 2023 ASIAD. However, the failure to win a ticket to the final round caused coach Reza Enayati to decide to make a drastic change in the force. This strategist only kept 6 players and called up 16 completely new players. It is worth mentioning that before leaving for China, the Iranian players had not had a day of training together, so the Iranian media expressed concern about the team's playing style. Despite the difficulty in terms of force when 5 players were absent and there was no prior preparation, Olympic Iran showed that they are a formidable team. Against a highly rated Saudi Arabia Olympic, Olympic Iran showed a high level of skill with a fast-integrating playing style and showed a very high level of cohesion. It is this team that controls the ball better, has clearer scoring situations. The "attacks" of Olympic Iran are based on strength, based on a foundation of abundant physical strength. The two "wing pairs" of this team, Jafari and Eslami on the left and Touanian and Mamizadeh on the right, have speed, attack and defend and support each other effectively. Many players of Olympic Vietnam have faced the young team of Iran in the 2023 U20 Asian Finals. The disadvantage that made Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan's team lose the match was their physique and physical strength. Iran turned strength into a powerful weapon through each step, making Van Khang and his teammates unable to keep up. Olympic Iran currently also possesses that strong physical strength.

Obviously, the lessons learned from the defeat last March are very useful for Vietnam Olympic in this confrontation. A reasonable way to organize the game by pressing, blocking tightly or distributing strength reasonably to ensure good play for 90 minutes is certainly an issue that coach Hoang Anh Tuan will have to pay attention to with his students when facing Iran Olympic.

Overall, Iran Olympic has a more comprehensive performance than Vietnam Olympic in this confrontation. But if there is a plan to deploy a reasonable defensive counter-attacking style of play, especially timely reinforcement of the defense system, in which goalkeeper Quan Van Chuan regains his form, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan's team can completely score points against the team from West Asia.

Phong Uyen

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