Positive statistics of Vietnam team against China team

Hoang Duc dribbles the ball in the match against the Chinese team

Coach Troussier's reign started with a rather turbulent SEA Games 30, with answers that were not entirely clear for the ambition to participate in the 2026 World Cup. But in the Vietnamese team's jersey, Mr. Troussier had 3 wins without conceding a single goal.

Those were the matches in which the Vietnamese team created an active and solid defensive formation, based on the 3-4-3 formation where the defense always ensured the ability to cover in depth.

Thanks to this, despite some initial difficulties when the players had to get used to Coach Troussier's new philosophy, the Vietnamese team still created a solid game, before the attack gradually found its rhythm and the goals came one after another.

The three consecutive victories, with a gradually brighter face, have accumulated a lot of confidence for both the teachers and students of the Vietnamese team. This was most evident when before the friendly match in China, Coach Troussier strongly mentioned the goal of the 2026 World Cup.

Que Ngoc Hai wears the captain's armband in the first match of the 3-match friendly series in October.

That is a very different attitude from the way he vaguely mentioned the 2026 or 2030 World Cup goals in the early stages of leading the Vietnam national team and U.23 Vietnam.

As a result, at the home field of a strong opponent named China, coach Philippe Troussier surprised everyone by sending many young players or rookies such as Viet Hung, Tuan Tai, Tien Anh while the attack line continued to have Hoang Duc as the striker and Van Toan as the main player with Tuan Hai on the two wings.

This comes from an important support, which is the framework of pillars such as Ngoc Hai, Van Lam, Duy Manh, Tuan Anh, Hung Dung, Hoang Duc... still playing stably, confidently and calmly. Mr. Troussier even felt so secure that he boldly sent the new 19-year-old player Nguyen Dinh Bac onto the field at the beginning of the second half (replacing Van Toan).

That belief was well-founded when the visiting team Vietnam was the one who controlled the ball more (65% compared to 35% of the Chinese team) and shot more (7 compared to 5). In the last 10 minutes of the first half, they completely forced the opponent into a defensive position and if Van Toan had a better feel for the ball, he could have scored from a one-on-one position with the goalkeeper.

Tuan Hai played energetically and had at least 2 chances to score.

Without Van Hau, Tan Tai, Van Thanh and Quang Hai, coach Philippe Troussier showed that the Vietnamese team will still be able to play flexibly to force the home team China to retreat to their own half to wait for a counterattack.

The unexpected loss in the 56th minute will only make the strategist nicknamed "White Witch" more determined to send young players "fearless calves" like Thai Son and Van Cuong onto the field to replace the seniors Tuan Anh and Tien Anh.

The mobility and abundant physical strength of the 3 new players on the field helped the Vietnamese team increase their playing speed, at times controlling the ball up to nearly 70%.

However, we must also admit that we still lack something to turn our advantage in the middle of the field into situations that constantly threaten the goalkeeper's goal, when Tuan Hai's enthusiasm alone is not enough, while Van Toan has yet to regain his ball control.

Tuan Anh and Hoang Duc did a good job of escaping pressing in 2/3 of the match.

Evaluating the strength of Vietnam's opponents in October 2023: China, Uzbekistan, South Korea

The answer was somewhat clearer when Tien Linh entered the field in the 79th minute, while young talent Khuat Van Khang replaced Trieu Viet Hung to guard the left wing. Hoang Duc's return to the middle of the field also helped the Vietnamese team's midfield become more flexible and have the ability to distribute the ball better.

VAR determined that Tien Linh's collision was a red card in a situation where the striker needed to calm down with his elbow sticking out, making our pressing game unable to be maintained clearly, until Hoang Duc's bad pass brought the second goal for the Chinese team.

This is a friendly match, it is too early to make a judgment on the right or wrong of coach Philippe Troussier's experiments. After the match in China, there are still 2 matches (against Uzbekistan on October 13, against Korea on October 17) for the "White Witch" to finalize the most optimal plan for the Vietnamese team to enter the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

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