U.23 Vietnam seeks 'golden' countermeasure for Southeast Asian tournament: Dealing with extremely strong opponents

The most important opponents of the U.23 Vietnam team at the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament all have naturalized players, so coach Kim Sang-sik must find suitable countermeasures.

IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA FOCUS ON MUSCLE STRENGTH

The U.23 Indonesia team (host of the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 Championship) called up 13 players who have played for the national team at least once to participate in the regional youth tournament, including: goalkeeper Daffa Fasya; center backs Muhammad Ferarri, Kadek Arel, Kakang Rudianto; left backs Dony Tri Pamungkas, Mikael Tata; right back Achmad Maulana; midfielders Arkhan Fikri, Robi Darwis, Rayhan Hannan, Rivaldo Pakpahan, Victor Dethan and striker Hokky Caraka.

Goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien is 1.91 m tall.

Photo: HAGL

Center back Dinh Quang Kiet (HAGL) has a very good height, helping U.23 Vietnam defend more firmly in high ball situations.

PHOTO: HAGL

U.23 Indonesia also has a naturalized striker of Dutch origin Jens Raven (20 years old, playing for SV Nootdorp, Netherlands). The physique of the young Indonesian players is very beautiful: Jens Raven is 1.89 m tall, center back Kadek Arel is 1.84 m tall, Kakang Rudianto is 1.85 m tall, Brandon Scheunemann is 1.87 m tall... With the above tall players, plus being led by Dutch coach Gerald Vanenburg, U.23 Indonesia is expected to play in the style of a European team, rich in speed and physical strength.

The U.23 Malaysia team has naturalized striker Fergus Tierney (1.86 m tall, born in Scotland, currently playing for Nakhom Pathom United, Thailand). He has scored 1 goal in 6 appearances for the Malaysian team. Some other players of the U.23 Malaysia team have good physiques such as center back Ubaidullah Shamsul (1.82 m), striker Haqimi Azim (1.84 m)...

HOT LESSON

The Vietnamese team lost to Indonesia in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia and at the 2023 Asian Cup. Nearly half a month ago, the Vietnamese team also lost to Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers in a completely inferior match. The opponent with too many naturalized players of ideal height and strong physique played very well, using many high-ball situations. It is not impossible that in the upcoming U.23 Southeast Asian tournament, U.23 Indonesia and U.23 Malaysia will apply a playing style that is both physical and tactically flexible like the senior teams.

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan, who led U.23 Vietnam to win the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship in 2023, commented: "If the opponent uses players with tall and strong physiques, we cannot arrange a team with all short players. Vietnamese players must ensure that they can compete with the opponent, especially high-level ball competition, and be able to win the ball back before they can think of an attack plan."

When he was still leading the Vietnamese team, Coach Troussier made a mistake when facing Indonesia. Then, Coach Kim Sang-sik repeated the mistake that led to the loss to Malaysia on June 10. Both coaches used players with small stature, not capable of aerial combat and one-on-one competition, leading to the collapse of the defense system when the opponent accelerated and focused on pouring high balls into the penalty area of ​​the Vietnamese team. Lessons from these defeats will be learned by Mr. Kim Sang-sik when U.23 Vietnam faces opponents with very strong physical strength.

HOW HEIGHT IS U.23 VN?

Currently, Mr. Kim Sang-sik has called up many players with good physiques to the U.23 Vietnam team. Among them are central defenders Le Van Ha and Nguyen Hieu Minh (both 1.84 m tall), who played quite well at the four-nation tournament in China a few months ago. In addition, the defense has central defender Dinh Quang Kiet, who is 1.95 m tall. When U.23 Vietnam needs to increase the ability to defend against high balls in defense and increase the ability to compete one-on-one, Quang Kiet's tall physique is an advantageous factor.

Nguyen Dang Duong of The Cong Viettel ), 1.84 m tall

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

Nguyen Van Truong (1.82 m, Hanoi Club)

Photo: Hanoi Club

Le Van Ha (1.84 m, Hanoi Club)

Photo: Hanoi Club

Pham Ly Duc is 1.82 m tall.

Photo: Kha Hoa

In the front line, attacking midfielder Le Van Truong (1.82 m tall) is quite strong in his ability to compete and sweep. When needed, this player can be pushed up to play as a striker, putting pressure right on the opponent's field. This is also the option that coach Hoang Anh Tuan used for the U.23 Vietnam team at the 2024 U.23 Asian Cup. In addition, striker Nguyen Dinh Bac (1.8 m tall) has also returned, further improving the physical factor for the attack.

Van Ha, Quang Kiet, Van Truong, Dinh Bac and most of the current U.23 Vietnam players belong to V-League teams. Many of them have regular positions in this tournament, such as Nguyen Van Truong (Hanoi FC); Dinh Quang Kiet, Pham Ly Duc, goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien (HAGL); Khuat Van Khang (The Cong Viettel); Nguyen Thai Son (Thanh Hoa); Dinh Xuan Tien, Le Van Thuan (SLNA); Viktor Le (Ha Tinh); Nguyen Phi Hoang ( Da Nang ) ... That shows that U.23 Vietnam is not lacking in personnel with good competition ability and rich professional playing experience. The important thing is how Mr. Kim uses these players.

Getting through the group stage with U.23 Laos and U.23 Cambodia is not a difficult task for U.23 Vietnam. However, to defend the championship, coach Kim Sang-sik and his colleagues must prepare a plan to confront U.23 Indonesia and U.23 Malaysia. These are the opponents that U.23 Vietnam can face in the semi-finals and finals. U.23 Vietnam must have appropriate countermeasures, both in terms of personnel and playing style, to confront the opponent's powerful playing style.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-tim-doi-sach-vang-cho-giai-dong-nam-a-ung-pho-doi-thu-cuc-manh-185250623225318242.htm