Decoding the "phenomenon"

U23 Philippines is considered the "phenomenon" of the tournament, a challenge that is predicted to not be easy for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team to overcome in their journey to defend the throne.

Overcoming pressure

U23 Vietnam came to the tournament in the "island country" as the two-time champion in 2022 and 2023. In each tournament, U23 Vietnam is associated with different generations of players and head coaches (in 2022, coach Dinh The Nam led, in 2023, coach Hoang Anh Tuan) but the team's goal is unchanged, which is the championship. This year, in the hands of coach Kim Sang-sik is a generation of players who have affirmed their names, having trained or played for the national team, combined with talented young players who have played outstandingly in recent times.

Experts say that this year's U23 Vietnam team has a stronger squad than 2 years ago, so expectations are quite high. This also puts a lot of pressure on Khuat Van Khang and his teammates because "winning the championship is difficult, defending the championship is even more difficult". Not only that, U23 Vietnam has won the championship twice in a row.

Compared to the two main rivals for the championship, U23 Indonesia and U23 Thailand, U23 Vietnam was luckier when they were drawn into a group with two weaker teams, U23 Laos and U23 Cambodia. Therefore, it was not surprising that coach Kim Sang-sik and his team became the only team to win all the matches in the group stage.

Against weak opponents, Coach Kim Sang-sik has many options to experiment in order to “hide his cards” for the semi-final and possibly final match. In the match against U23 Laos, Coach Kim Sang-sik used a starting lineup with 6 players who have been called up or played for the national team: center back Pham Ly Duc, midfielder Khuat Van Khang, Nguyen Van Truong, Nguyen Thai Son, striker Nguyen Dinh Bac and Nguyen Quoc Viet.

In the second match against U23 Cambodia, only Ly Duc, Van Truong, Van Khang and Quoc Viet were left on the field from the start because the team that drew advanced to the semi-finals. In both matches, coach Kim Sang-sik used different starting lineups but both had the same result (winning 3-0 against U23 Laos and 2-1 against U23 Cambodia), in which the role of the group of players who had "eaten the national team's rice" was very important, they were the backbone of the team.

U23 Vietnam scored 5 goals in 2 matches in the group stage, including 3 goals from the central defenders, 1 from the midfielders and 1 from the strikers. This shows that U23 Vietnam is a fairly balanced team, all lines can score.

“Vietnam U23 won both group stage matches, thanks to the players’ efforts and the enthusiastic support from the fans. We scored three goals from set pieces thanks to our central defenders. Hopefully they will continue to score in the semi-finals. Of course, I also hope that other players can shine more,” said coach Kim Sang-sik.

Winning is the only goal

For many demanding fans, the achievement of U23 Vietnam in passing the group stage may not be really convincing, especially the hard-fought victory against U23 Cambodia. However, coach Kim Sang-sik and the coaching staff have also carefully calculated these two matches to help the team maintain focus, not lose too much energy and avoid injuries to prepare for the semi-finals and possibly the final.

That is reasonable because the team's goal is the championship and the tournament still has U23 Indonesia and U23 Thailand, the two main opponents of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team in the goal of making a "hat-trick" of championship titles.

U23 Philippines, the semi-final opponent of U23 Vietnam, is an interesting “phenomenon” in the tournament. In the group stage, this team excellently defeated U23 Malaysia and U23 Brunei (both 2-0) and only lost 0-1 to host U23 Indonesia to gain the right to enter the round of four strongest teams, as the second-placed team with the best record.

This is the first time the U23 Philippines has reached the semi-finals of the regional competition and they are determined to make a surprise against the defending champions. Not only are they excited in spirit, the U23 Philippines also has a squad of naturalized players with outstanding physique and physical strength.

Maybe U23 Philippines is a more suitable opponent than U23 Indonesia, but U23 Vietnam players cannot be subjective, especially when the tournament has entered the knockout round, where every mistake will have to be paid for.

Coach Kim Sang-sik affirmed: “The U23 Philippines is the away team, which will be different from facing the host U23 Indonesia. However, the U23 Philippines is a balanced team and has naturalized players. We have carefully analyzed their playing style and will prepare accordingly. No matter who we face, we will prepare carefully to aim for good results. The whole team will be determined to play well to win.”

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/giai-ma-hien-tuong-155971.html