Overcoming pressure

VHO - The Vietnam U23 team had a smooth start in Group C of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers when they defeated Bangladesh U23 2-0 at home. This victory was not only a favorable start, but also helped the players somewhat relieve pressure towards the goal of participating in the Final Round (Finals) of the continent's leading youth football tournament.

U23 Vietnam is expected to continue to have a good performance against U23 Singapore. Photo: VFF

The positive highlights

Before the qualifying round took place, U23 Vietnam was under a lot of pressure as it was expected to continue the success of its seniors and maintain its position in the region. In the history of participating in the U23 Asian qualifiers, U23 Vietnam had five consecutive appearances in the final round from 2016 to 2024, the most notable of which was the runner-up achievement in Changzhou (China) in 2018 by the generation of Quang Hai and Cong Phuong.

From this achievement, every time U23 Vietnam participates in the continental playground, it receives great attention from fans and experts. Along with great attention comes no small amount of pressure. Everyone expects that Dinh Bac and his teammates will help Vietnamese youth football to participate in the U23 Asian Cup for the sixth consecutive time, especially when the team plays at home and has just won the Southeast Asian championship.

And the performance against U23 Bangladesh has shown that the U23 Vietnam players know how to overcome pressure. Although the tension was evident on the faces of the U23 Vietnam players in the first minutes of the match, with their bravery and careful preparation, Coach Kim Sang-sik's students quickly regained their rhythm, deployed a proactive style of play and created many dangerous opportunities. Ngoc My's opening goal in the 15th minute not only helped relieve the pressure but also created a good game for the team to win in the end.

Three points against a weaker opponent like U23 Bangladesh cannot say much, but it does show some positive points. This victory is a harmonious combination of coach Kim Sang-sik's reasonable tactics and the explosion of young faces with great potential. From the beginning, the 4-2-3-1 formation was clearly deployed, with two central midfielders playing the role of "brain" in regulating the tempo and distributing the ball.

This helps the team maintain a tight formation, while creating more space for the attacking midfielders to exploit. The commendable point is the ability to quickly change state. Every time they win the ball, U23 Vietnam immediately launches counter-attacks with few touches, fully exploiting the speed of the wings. This often puts the opponent's defense in a difficult position to defend.

With the match somewhat deadlocked in the middle of the second half, coach Kim Sang-sik decided to change the personnel when he sent Viktor Le, Van Khang and Quoc Viet onto the field. This change helped U23 Vietnam play an attacking game when Viktor Le scored the winning goal 2-0. This showed coach Kim Sang-sik's ability to "read" the game and the quality of the depth of U23 Vietnam's squad.

Improve finishing

Despite the victory, U23 Vietnam still revealed many problems. The finishing still lacked precision, many good opportunities were missed. If the finishing was better, U23 Vietnam could have ended the match with a higher score when the ball hit the opponent's crossbar and post 3 times.

“We created many chances, but unfortunately, some shots hit the crossbar and the post. The opponent’s goalkeeper played excellently in the second half. The whole team will continue to make adjustments to better prepare for the next matches,” said coach Kim Sang-sik.

If they beat U23 Bangladesh by a larger score, U23 Vietnam will have an advantage if they compare the goal difference with U23 Yemen, the main opponent in Group C. The goal of U23 Vietnam is to top the group and get a ticket to the finals. If they can create an advantage in goal difference, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team will have a much easier time calculating for the decisive confrontation between the two teams on September 9.

But before thinking about U23 Yemen, U23 Vietnam needs to win all 3 points against U23 Singapore on September 6. On the opening day, U23 Singapore, although rated lower, caused many difficulties for U23 Yemen when they only lost 1-2 (in which 2 goals conceded by U23 Singapore both came from the 11m mark).

Therefore, although rated higher, U23 Vietnam cannot be complacent. Coach Kim Sang-sik also has the same opinion when showing caution against opponents in Group C: "I directly watched the teams compete. The most important point is the physical issue, because the hot weather greatly affects the players when they have to compete for 90 minutes. The level of the four teams is quite similar, so we have to prepare carefully for each match."

The mission of U23 Vietnam is to win 3 points against U23 Singapore, even a big win to get a good goal difference. This is certainly not an easy goal, requiring the players to be focused, determined, and perform better than in the opening match. The most important thing is that Dinh Bac and his teammates will have to continue to overcome the pressure to make new progress in the journey to win a ticket to the continental finals next year.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/vuot-qua-ap-luc-166166.html