2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship: Vietnam U23 is not perfect

The U23 Vietnam team defeated U23 Laos 3-0 in the opening match of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship held in Indonesia. However, except for the satisfaction with the score, coach Kim Sang Sik's team showed an unconvincing performance against an underrated opponent like U23.

The Vietnam U23 team still has a lot of work to do after the victory over Laos U23 - Photo: ANH KHOA

Having had the opportunity to watch U23 Laos play against Cambodia in the opening match of Group B before, coach Kim Sang Sik still could not help the U23 Vietnam team play better against their opponents.

Deadlock in gameplay

With a superior squad than their opponents, the U23 Vietnam team had no difficulty dominating the game from the start. At one point, coach Kim Sang Sik's players controlled the ball up to 89%. Khuat Van Khang's opening goal in the 19th minute was inevitable. But after this goal, the U23 Vietnam team played deadlocked for most of the remaining time.

The crowded defensive play of U23 Laos made it difficult for U23 Vietnam to find a way into the opponent's goal. However, it must be acknowledged that coach Kim Sang Sik did not have an effective attacking plan for his players.

U23 Vietnam only attacked on the left wing, which is their strength. And when U23 Laos "blocked" the left wing, the young Vietnamese players immediately encountered a deadlock. Defender Vo Anh Quan did not have much support on the right wing. And this is also a question mark for coach Kim Sang Sik when he left all the best players on this wing at home such as Ho Van Cuong, Hong Phuc...

In fact, the U23 Vietnam team had some pretty good attacks on the flanks. However, after the passes down the flanks, the passes back were not accurate for the strikers or the second line to finish. And that is what coach Kim Sang Sik must improve for his players in the next training sessions to be able to successfully defend the championship.

The joy of U23 Vietnam in the victory over Laos - Photo: ANH KHOA

Mr. Kim hides his cards?

Coach Kim Sang Sik arranged a rather strange tactical formation in the opening match against U23 Laos. Especially the attack line when pushing Dinh Bac to play as a striker, and letting Khuat Van Khang play as a left striker. Meanwhile, Quoc Viet - who has always played as a striker - switched to playing as a right striker. The "disappearance" of Dinh Bac and Quoc Viet partly showed that this tactical plan was not really effective.

Not used from the start, the Vietnamese-Russian player Viktor Le was brought in to replace Quoc Viet in the second half and did not play as well as expected. Other experiments by Mr. Kim such as bringing in Cong Phuong to replace Thai Son to play as central midfielder with Van Truong, Ngoc My to replace Dinh Bac in the 76th minute also did not help the U23 Vietnam team attack better. That is a worrying thing when U23 Laos is considered much weaker.

In the context of such a deadlocked attack, coach Kim Sang Sik still had another "trick" to make the home team win. That was the ability to score from set pieces. Center back Hieu Minh joined the attack in two corner kicks and scored a double.

The first goal was a high jump header past goalkeeper Kop Lokphathip, and the second goal was a situation where he took advantage of a messy situation in the penalty area to kick the ball into the net of U23 Laos. However, the opponents in the knockout round will be much stronger, so using the above "secret weapon" is not easy. Therefore, improving the playing style of the U23 Vietnam team is still the most important thing to do, besides perfecting the existing strengths.

More than anyone else, Coach Kim Sang Sik has seen the limitations of the Vietnam U23 team in order to better prepare for the final match of the group stage on July 22. A ticket to the semi-finals is within reach for Vietnam U23, while Cambodia U23 is also considered inferior.

But to be able to go to the final match and achieve the set goal, the Korean coach still has a lot of work to do. Especially arranging suitable personnel, overcoming misdirected passes in the final ball situation, and diversifying the attacking wings.

Hopefully in the upcoming match, fans will see the U23 Vietnam team with a more perfect new look.

ORIGINAL

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-u23-dong-nam-a-2025-u23-viet-nam-chua-hoan-hao-20250721085950324.htm