U22 Vietnam had a smooth start

The opening match in a tournament always has potential difficulties and U22 Vietnam overcame the challenge to complete the goal of winning 3 points.

Nguyen Dinh Bac's double helped U22 Vietnam beat U22 Laos 2-1 in the first match of Group B of the 33rd SEA Games men's football on December 3. Although the performance of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team was not satisfactory, the final result helped U22 Vietnam gain an advantage in the race for the top spot in the group.

Need to improve the attack

Vietnam is considered a candidate to win the men's football championship at the 33rd SEA Games thanks to the team that just won the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. Compared to Laos, coach Kim Sang-sik's team is superior in both skill and class. U22 Vietnam often plays high-level pressing, actively controls the ball, and attacks in a variety of ways.

Nguyen Dinh Bac (right) scored two goals, helping U22 Vietnam overcome U22 Laos in the opening match of SEA Games 33 in Group B (Photo: NGOC LINH)

However, the familiar coordination of U22 Vietnam has not been brought into play in the opening match of SEA Games 33. Facing the dense defense of U22 Laos, Mr. Kim Sang-sik's students encountered a deadlock when launching attacks. Although controlling the rate and having more shots than the opponent, the "golden star warriors" only scored 2 goals.

Taking advantage of their physical advantage, Mr. Kim's students proactively attacked the flanks, thanks to the mobility of wingers such as Van Khang, Dinh Bac, Minh Phuc and Thanh Nhan. Crosses from both wings always found their targets, but the strikers of U22 Vietnam finished ineffectively, missing many scoring opportunities.

Staff rotation

The two goals of U22 Vietnam came from individual efforts. Minh Phuc unexpectedly showed his ability to accelerate strongly, passing the opponent's defender on the right wing, before crossing to "set the table" for Dinh Bac to open the score in the first half. After that, Dinh Bac showed his confidence when holding the ball and finishing with a tricky shot from the 16m50 box to seal the victory for U22 Vietnam in the second half.

Commenting on the match, coach Pham Minh Duc assessed: "The attack was not effective, the defense still made mistakes, shown through the lack of concentration and conceding a goal against an opponent considered weaker. However, Nguyen Dinh Bac's performance was excellent. The 21-year-old striker was the center of attention on the field, making a great contribution to helping U22 Vietnam complete the goal of winning the match."

After the victory over U22 Laos, coach Kim Sang-sik's team was in a state of force depletion, when midfielder Xuan Bac had to leave the field near the end of the first half due to injury. Xuan Bac is one of 8 talents wearing the national team jersey to participate in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. He is also a key factor in the journey to win the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship of U23 Vietnam.

The absence of Xuan Bac will reduce the attacking power of the right wing. At the present time, coach Kim Sang-sik has many options to replace Xuan Bac's position, however, there still needs to be a reasonable rotation plan to preserve the force and the ability to operate tactical tactics when facing U22 Malaysia.

In Group B, Malaysia is an equal opponent competing for a semi-final spot with U22 Vietnam. Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team have the advantage of having an 8-day break to help the players recover, review the squad, and improve both attack and defense before entering the final match of the group stage against U22 Malaysia on December 11.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/u22-viet-nam-khoi-dau-suon-se-196251203211854504.htm