U.23 Southeast Asia Final - U.23 Indonesia vs. U.23 Vietnam: Bring the Cup Home!

U.23 Vietnam is facing a historic opportunity to successfully defend the regional youth championship and set a record with 3 consecutive crowns. Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team's opponent is host Indonesia, also eager to avenge the loss to U.23 Vietnam in the final match of this tournament 2 years ago.

THE KING OF ENEMY

Vietnamese and Indonesian football are having fierce competition at both the national team and youth levels. At the highest level, Indonesia with its massive naturalization campaign is gaining the advantage. At the U.23 age group, Vietnam is the "king" of Southeast Asia with 2 consecutive championships. 2 years ago, U.23 Vietnam under the leadership of coach Hoang Anh Tuan spectacularly defeated U.23 Indonesia in a penalty shootout. This year, the two teams will compete again in a historic match.

Hometown audience anxiously awaits news of U.23 Vietnam's victory

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

The current U.23 Vietnam team still has champions from 2 years ago such as Khuat Van Khang, Thai Son, Quoc Viet. Meanwhile, the young generation of Indonesia has almost changed blood, the talented generation such as Beckham, R. Santana, JKSroyer or Dewangga are too old. However, both teams have shown their full strength on the way to the final match. Coach Kim Sang-sik's students have matured and improved with each match. U.23 Vietnam easily defeated U.23 Laos with a score of 3-0, calmly "tricking" to defeat U.23 Cambodia - an opponent with an attacking style with the mentality of having nothing to lose. Facing the difficult U.23 Philippines, despite being unexpectedly behind, Khuat Van Khang and his teammates still persevered and calmed down to make a spectacular comeback with goals from Dinh Bac and Xuan Bac.

U.23 Indonesia with U.19 and U.21 players also showed their superiority with convincing victories in the group stage and especially their spirit and strong fighting will in the semi-final match against U.23 Thailand. It was truly a battle of wits in which U.23 Indonesia fell behind but resiliently equalized and overcame their tough opponent in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout.

THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN "FIRE" AND "WATER"

Objectively speaking, U.23 Vietnam has had a fairly stable performance in this year's tournament but has yet to make a strong impression. It feels like coach Kim Sang-sik is still hiding his cards, saving them for the final match tonight. It's time for U.23 Vietnam to go all out and clearly reveal their tactical traits (which have gradually formed in the playing style of the young players in the group stage and semi-finals).

Coach Kim Sang-sik is like "water"...

And the coach of U.23 Indonesia is like "fire"

Photo: Nguyen Khang

U.23 Vietnam may not take the initiative to control the ball and attack. In the victory over the Philippines, U.23 Vietnam was superior in all aspects but did not take the initiative to raise the attacking formation but took the initiative to play slowly, luring the opponent to raise the attack, then exploiting the weaknesses and gaps behind the Philippines' defense. Even though we do not need to increase the speed of the match, do not need to play too fast, we still make the opponent follow our style of play. Coach Kim's students are demonstrating an extremely effective attacking style of play with extremely beautiful goals after modern coordination from both wings. Especially the left wing with wonderful crosses from impressive left-footers like Phi Hoang and Thanh Dat. Those are all passes that are accurate to the centimeter in terms of landing point and also very accurate in terms of force. Then the attacking spearheads like Dinh Bac, Xuan Bac or Ly Duc make precise and effective cuts.

The proactive defensive play from the midfield is also showing its effectiveness. In the last 3 matches, even when U.23 Vietnam was behind U.23 Philippines, it was rare to see coach Kim let his players push up the formation to press high. It was always a game of giving up 1/3 of the field to the opponent, concentrating the number of players and playing hard in the midfield. Then winning the ball and making direct passes into the space behind the opponent's defense or organizing quick attacks on the flanks, making effective early crosses.

The home team Indonesia, the main players are still quite young but coach Gerald Vanenburg is still building a fairly effective attacking style of play. Playing against the more experienced U.23 Thailand, U.23 Indonesia still plays proactively with a ball control rate of up to 74%. Notably, the naturalized striker Jens Raven with 7 goals and midfielder Robi Darwis with 3 assists. U.23 Indonesia attacks with high speed and intensity, likened to a raging fire, will confront the soft, flexible style but also contains hidden power like an endless source of water of U.23 Vietnam. An uncompromising confrontation between "fire" and "water".

We hope that Coach Kim's powerful water source will extinguish the Indonesian fire right at the "holy land" Bung Karno with nearly 80,000 seats, helping U.23 Vietnam create a miracle right on foreign land.

The final match between U.23 Indonesia and U.23 Vietnam was reported online by Thanh Nien Newspaper at thanhnien.vn .

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chung-ket-u23-dong-nam-a-u23-indonesia-dau-u23-viet-nam-mang-cup-ve-nha-185250728234358631.htm