U23 Vietnam - U23 Laos: The beginning of ambition

tuyển U23 Việt Nam - Ảnh 1. — Quoc Viet (left) will lead the attack of U23 Vietnam - Photo: VFF

The Vietnam U23 team has won the championship twice in a row in the two most recent tournaments in 2022 and 2023 with coaches Dinh The Nam and Hoang Anh Tuan. Therefore, leading the Vietnam U23 team to defend the championship in this year's tournament also brings a lot of pressure to coach Kim Sang Sik.

Mr. Kim's debut

To achieve this goal, Coach Kim Sang Sik has carefully prepared for the tournament. Accordingly, the U23 Vietnam team has 3 weeks of training in Ba Ria - Vung Tau , playing two friendly matches with U23 Taiwan to test, check personnel and perfect tactics. After two screenings, Mr. Kim eliminated 13 players to select the 23 best players to go to Indonesia.

And 8 of them have played for the national team: goalkeeper Trung Kien, center back Pham Ly Duc, defender Khuat Van Khang, midfielder Thai Son, Van Truong, strikers Dinh Bac, Quoc Viet and Thanh Nhan.

The last-minute absence of experienced striker Thanh Nhan is regrettable. However, coach Kim Sang Sik still has a squad rich in experience and depth, enough to realize the championship ambition.

And the opening match with U23 Laos is an opportunity to see how Mr. Kim will adapt tactically when losing a quality striker, in order to prepare for more important matches in the knockout round.

Can not be subjective

The superiority in class and experience in competition helps U23 Vietnam be rated much higher by experts than U23 Laos. Therefore, victory is not difficult for coach Kim Sang Sik and his team. But do not forget, the U23 Vietnam team had many difficulties against U23 Laos in the opening match of the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship in Thailand.

The young Vietnamese players only won 4-1 thanks to 3 goals from the 72nd minute onwards. Coach Ha Hyeok Jun - who knows Coach Kim Sang Sik quite well - also affirmed that although participating in the tournament with the goal of learning, U23 Laos is also ready to cause surprises.

Similar to U23 Vietnam, U23 Laos also has many national team players in the squad. The only difference is that young Lao players are often the main players in the national team while U23 Vietnam has almost only Khuat Van Khang.

Standing out in the U23 Laos squad is Vietnamese-origin player Damoth Thongkhamsavath - the midfielder who leads the Laos team's play. Damoth is playing for Thanh Hoa Club and is progressing very quickly. Therefore, coach Kim Sang Sik and his team, although confident, are not complacent.

"Every year the tournament is different, and the opponents are also more advanced. The whole team must concentrate and fight with the highest spirit," defender Phi Hoang said.

Waiting to see Mr. Kim's lineup

With a defensive 4-5-1 formation, U23 Laos only controlled the ball about 35% in the opening match against U23 Cambodia on July 16. However, coach Ha Hyeok Jun's team scored the opening goal in the 18th minute after a surprise attack from the right wing. At the end of the first half, U23 Laos almost doubled the gap if the U23 Cambodia goalkeeper had not played excellently.

But the physical weakness eventually caused U23 Laos to lose their formation and were equalized by U23 Cambodia 1-1. And that was also the way U23 Vietnam could exploit to win, if they could not "subdue" U23 Laos in the first half.

Whether U23 Vietnam can win a resounding victory over U23 Laos or not depends largely on coach Kim Sang Sik's squad arrangement. That is, whether to deploy the strongest squad or experiment with additional attacking options. That is because once the important attacking elements are placed in the right place, U23 Vietnam will fully exploit its strengths.