U23 Vietnam enters the final: Alarming problem, waiting for the day to soar

(Dan Tri) - U23 Vietnam still has certain problems, especially in finishing. However, coach Kim Sang Sik's team is still moving forward in doubt. Glory is only one step away from U23 Vietnam.

Alarming problem of U23 Vietnam

Amidst the joy of U23 Vietnam after winning a ticket to the final of the U23 Southeast Asian tournament, there is one person who is still worried. No one else but coach Kim Sang Sik. Sharing after the match, he frankly admitted: "U23 Vietnam missed too many opportunities".

U23 Vietnam is in the final of the U23 Southeast Asian tournament for the third consecutive time (Photo: VFF).

Obviously, if the strikers of U23 Vietnam were more careful, we could have won a big victory against U23 Philippines. One of the typical missed shots of the "Golden Star Warriors" that made fans regret was when Le Van Thuan kicked the ball into the sky when it was only about 6m from the goal.

On the attack line, apart from Dinh Bac, the remaining strikers such as Quoc Viet, Van Thuan, Viktor Le, Cong Phuong have not been able to "shoot". The finishing ability of the players in the lower line such as Anh Quan, Van Truong... is also not much better.

There is a notable detail, all 7 goals of U23 Vietnam in the U23 Southeast Asia tournament came from crosses, including 5 headers, which is the "powerful weapon" of coach Kim Sang Sik and his team. However, from another perspective, we are not really diverse in organizing attacks and do not have an alternative plan.

U23 Philippines, with many tall players, is expected to neutralize U23 Vietnam's aerial battles, but in reality, the U23 Philippines' defense is quite inexperienced and has little practice. Therefore, they are very likely to make mistakes when facing a stronger opponent, U23 Vietnam.

However, U23 Indonesia will be a completely different challenge. They have enough experience and cunning to neutralize the aerial “weapon” of U23 Vietnam. If they cannot find another approach or create breakthrough plays, coach Kim Sang Sik’s team may hit a dead end.

The good news is that U23 Vietnam has two good full-backs who can attack and defend well, Anh Quan and Phi Hoang. Anh Quan has a good ability to penetrate the penalty area, while Phi Hoang impresses with his accurate crosses. However, U23 Indonesia will of course know this strength and find a way to neutralize it.

The finishing skills of U23 Vietnam still have many limitations (Photo: VFF).

There are quite sad statistics that the rate of shots on target of U23 Vietnam is only 26.9% (63 shots, 17 on target), the second lowest in the tournament, only higher than U23 Brunei. Meanwhile, the rate of converting shots into goals of the team is only 11.11%, much lower than U23 Indonesia.

That was an alarming problem for U23 Vietnam throughout this tournament. It's not that coach Kim Sang Sik didn't find a way to fix it. He personally "demonstrated" striker Quoc Viet, instructing him on how to finish, run, and gain momentum when kicking the ball. He was even the one who directly passed the ball to his student.

However, improving finishing is not a matter of one or two days. It is a skill that needs to be trained. Quoc Viet is known as the “king of youth tournaments” but has not been able to improve his skills in the best way.

On the attack, perhaps only Dinh Bac has brought some confidence to the fans. The striker of the Hanoi Police Club knows how to create breakthroughs and has diverse finishing skills (with his feet and head). However, this striker still needs to make a lot of effort to be able to choose a position and finish at a high level.

U23 Indonesia, the ultimate challenge for U23 Vietnam

Coach Kim Sang Sik is following in the footsteps of his compatriot Park Hang Seo, which is to build an unbeaten system in Southeast Asia. Under Coach Kim, Vietnam's national teams are on an 11-match unbeaten streak in regional tournaments. After the Vietnamese national team won 7 and drew 1 in the AFF Cup, the U23 Vietnam team continued to win all 3 matches in the U23 Southeast Asian tournament.

U23 Indonesia did not use many naturalized players but played well in the U23 Southeast Asian tournament (Photo: Antara).

The 0-4 loss of the Vietnamese team to Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers (Asian level) was partly due to the fact that Malaysia's naturalized players were at a much higher level than the average Vietnamese players. If we only consider Southeast Asian tournaments, where there are almost no naturalized players, coach Kim Sang Sik still built an undefeated team.

That said, we can be completely confident when facing U23 Indonesia. The team of the archipelago in this tournament consists mostly of local players. There is only one player born abroad, Jens Raven (of Dutch origin), but this striker has also been associated with Indonesia's youth teams for a long time.

Like U23 Vietnam, U23 Indonesia has called up many stars who have played for the national team to participate in this tournament such as Muhammad Ferarri, Kadek Arel, Dony Tri Pamungkas, Arkhan Fikri, Hokky Caraka. These names were originally planned to play for the national team, despite having to compete fiercely with naturalized players from Europe.

That said, U23 Indonesia is also a team with a lot of experience and courage. That was clearly shown in the recent match against U23 Thailand. Despite being behind, the team from the archipelago did not waver. They had an equalizer from Jens Raven at the end of the match, before rising to win U23 Thailand after the penalty shootout.

Basically, compared to U23 Vietnam’s opponents from the beginning of the tournament, U23 Indonesia is clearly at a much higher level. In other words, this is a huge challenge for U23 Vietnam. They are a good “test” for the “Golden Dragons” to prove their true strength.

Vietnam U23 is expected to win the Southeast Asian U23 Championship for the third consecutive time (Photo: Minh Quan).

This is quite an interesting match because there are not many “naturalized players”. That ensures “fairness” in the playground for Southeast Asian players. This is the purity of regional football but has been “destroyed” by the wave of using naturalized players.

Vietnam U23 is holding a streak of 6 consecutive wins against Indonesia U23. In the most recent meeting in the final match of the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 tournament, the team led by coach Hoang Anh Tuan excellently defeated Indonesia U23 after a penalty shootout to win the championship. Or before that, Vietnam U23 also won 3-0 against this opponent in the final match of the 2019 SEA Games.

However, Indonesia is burning with desire to prove the potential of its indigenous players. They have too many reasons to aim for victory. The only time Indonesian football had the opportunity to celebrate the Southeast Asian football championship at Bung Karno Stadium was 38 years ago, at the 1987 SEA Games.

It has been a long time since the confrontation between Vietnam and Indonesia football has received such attention. It is a match between two teams of equal strength and both have strong desires. Importantly, fans will witness a truly “Southeast Asian” match.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/u23-viet-nam-tien-vao-chung-ket-van-de-bao-dong-cho-ngay-vut-bay-20250727000933220.htm