The match at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was truly the pinnacle of the tournament. Both U23 Vietnam and U23 Indonesia showed their best qualities. The victory belonged to the team with more courage.
Cong Phuong's opening goal was the 7th time in this tournament that U23 Vietnam scored from set pieces. While the U23 Vietnam strikers have not really played impressively, scoring from set pieces is considered an effective solution to help coach Kim Sang Sik's team break the deadlock in the matches in this tournament.
In addition, a defending champion team like U23 Vietnam uses set pieces as an effective way to find goals, which also shows that the gap between football backgrounds in the region is no longer too great. This promises more exciting tournaments in the future.
Returning to the match at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, after taking the lead, coach Kim Sang Sik surprised everyone when instead of letting his team play defensive counter-attacks, the Korean strategist asked his players to play high pressing. This tactic somewhat inhibited U23 Indonesia, making it difficult for the home team to develop the ball from the back.
We also need to give some compliments to goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien. His saves are as valuable as the goals scored by the red team. In the first half alone, the goalkeeper of U23 Vietnam made two saves for his team, including a face-to-face with naturalized striker 'Jens Raven' of U23 Indonesia - a striker who has scored almost as many goals as the entire U23 Vietnam team in this tournament.
The final match was also the match that consumed the most physical strength of the U23 Vietnam players. Playing in front of nearly 80,000 home fans gave the U23 Indonesia players a boost of energy. The team from the archipelago ran as if they had not gone through 120 minutes of hard battle with U23 Thailand in the semi-finals. This was most evident in the final minutes of the match, when the Vietnamese players were gasping for breath after continuous attacks from the opposing team.
The injury time in the second half was 5 minutes but in fact the match had entered the 100th minute. Those minutes became a real challenge for U23 Vietnam as the red-shirted players tried every way to slow down the pace of the match as well as concentrate to avoid being caught up in the fast play of the home team. Every set piece situation became a danger to goalkeeper Trung Kien's goal.
But that also shows the bravery of the players in red. Coach Kim Sang Sik's team shows maturity through each match in this tournament. The final match is the pinnacle of that development.
When the Japanese referee blew the whistle to end the match with a final score of 1-0 for U23 Vietnam. Many Vietnamese players hugged each other. They created a miracle when they won the regional championship for the third consecutive time at the U23 level. Congratulations to U23 Vietnam, congratulations to coach Kim Sang Sik and more importantly, the home fans can completely hope for a new generation of Vietnamese football talent.
Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/vuot-qua-indonesia-u23-viet-nam-lam-len-lich-su-i776455/
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