The psychological trap of U23 Vietnam
“Psychological trap”, that is the phrase that Bola newspaper used to describe U23 Vietnam. Indonesia’s leading sports newspaper assessed that U23 Vietnam did not hesitate to collide to put psychological pressure on the host team U23 Indonesia on the evening of July 29. That led to the players of the archipelago easily losing their composure and showing impatience in their playing style.
“It is unfortunate that U23 Indonesia fell into this psychological trap. They committed 11 fouls in the match, more than their opponents,” commented Bola.
U23 Indonesia can easily lose their cool and fall into the psychological trap of U23 Vietnam (Photo: Getty).
Sharing the same view, former Indonesian football star Toni Ho said that U23 Vietnam is very smart. They provoke but always know when to stop. Only the U23 Indonesian players fall into the trap and lose their composure.
Here, the article does not advocate for rough play, but clearly, U23 Vietnam is more mature than its opponent. We know how to play psychological tricks, play on the passion and desire to assert ourselves on the home field of U23 Indonesia. That is the "dark art" that is always necessary in a top match.
That art was even more evident at the end of the match. While the U23 Indonesian players were in high spirits to score an equalizer, Coach Kim Sang Sik slowed down the opponent by preventing Robi Darwis from taking a throw-in. Then, Doctor Nguyen Thanh An scattered a water bottle on the sideline to prevent the opponent from throwing the ball. As a result, the assistant coach of U23 Indonesia fell into a psychological trap when he kicked the water bottle and received a red card.
The current generation of U23 Vietnam is not ordinary. They have played together since youth levels and have been trained in the V-League or First Division environment. Many of them, such as goalkeeper Trung Kien, midfielder Van Khang, Dinh Bac, Thai Son, striker Dinh Bac, etc., were national team players who competed in major tournaments such as the 2023 Asian Cup or the 2024 AFF Cup. In other words, they are "old foxes" compared to the U23 generation.
Just look at the way Dinh Bac, despite being choked to the point of leaving a wound, was still calm enough not to respond, showing the maturity of this striker. Instead, he "responded" with a pretty good performance throughout the match. Thanks to that, Dinh Bac won the award for Best Player of the Final (as voted by AFF) and Best Player of the Tournament.
U23 Vietnam has been forged in battle spirit (Photo: Getty).
Compared to the players in the U23 age group, Dinh Bac matured earlier and was given the opportunity to wear the national team shirt when he was only 19 years old. Even in his career, this striker has suffered many incidents when he violated discipline at Quang Nam Club. Coach Van Sy Son once said about Dinh Bac: "To become a great player, he needs to be trained a lot. His mentality is still immature, somewhat delusional about his own value."
Now, at the age of 21, Dinh Bac has become much more solid after learning from the past. He no longer sees himself as a star but diligently presses and moves to create space for his teammates. In addition, Dinh Bac's handling of tight spaces has also improved a lot.
Dinh Bac is shaping up to be a versatile striker, capable of both finishing and creating, and also knowing how to defend from a distance. More importantly, this player is not tied to a fixed position but moves in a wide range, from the wings to the center.
Each element in the current U23 generation has its own similar story. They were all trained quite early after the lessons of failure. Therefore, U23 Vietnam is much more resilient and brave than people imagine. That is the decisive factor that helps us overcome the terrible pressure from Bung Karno Stadium to win the Southeast Asian championship.
U23 Vietnam plays Korean style football
After great success under coach Park Hang Seo, Vietnamese football went through a period of silence under coach Troussier, before rising again under the leadership of coach Kim Sang Sik.
It is no coincidence that success only came to Vietnamese football when working with Korean coaches. Although we do not want to, we have to admit that Vietnamese teams have absorbed the Korean playing style over the years. Only when we play like that can we bring out our best qualities.
The playing style of U23 Vietnam is rough and thorny, similar to the Korean team (Photo: Getty).
Basically, Korean teams have a defensive counter-attacking style of play, relying heavily on physical strength, fighting spirit and team spirit are always at a very high level. Sometimes, we do not enjoy watching Korean matches as much as when watching Japan (with their fiery attacking style of play). However, to break the Korean system is not a simple task for any opponent in the world .
Under coach Park Hang Seo, the Vietnamese teams have the most obvious “Korean character”. We have built a complete team, based on a very high team spirit. At that time, many top Asian teams (including Japan) struggled every time they met the Vietnamese team.
In a way, Coach Kim Sang Sik is following that path. As a former Korean national player and having led Jeonbuk FC to the Korean championship, Coach Kim Sang Sik understands the Korean football style very well. Therefore, he can bring success to Vietnamese football in a short time.
Coach Kim Sang Sik's weakness is that he does not have the golden generation like the time of Coach Park Hang Seo, but has to rebuild from scratch after the failure of Coach Troussier. Therefore, the Vietnamese team has not yet taken off in the international arena as expected.
However, at the Southeast Asian level (when Indonesia and Malaysia were both unable to call up naturalized players), Coach Kim Sang Sik helped Vietnamese football soar. Earlier this year, he helped the Vietnamese team win the 2024 AFF Cup with 7 wins and 1 draw. Following that success, the strategist born in 1976 continued to help U23 Vietnam win the Southeast Asian U23 championship with all 4 wins.
Coach Kim Sang Sik has achieved great success in Southeast Asian tournaments (Photo: VFF).
In total, coach Kim Sang Sik won 11 and drew 1 when facing Southeast Asian teams. The above numbers are no less impressive than the golden age of Vietnamese football under coach Park Hang Seo.
Many Indonesian and Thai newspapers still admit that Vietnamese football has developed excellent youth football. However, many teams such as Indonesia and Malaysia have chosen to “take a shortcut” by massively naturalizing players from Europe and South America, with a level much higher than the average Southeast Asian player.
This is what makes it difficult for coach Kim Sang Sik and his players to compete with these opponents at a higher level than Southeast Asia (such as Asian and world level tournaments). We cannot forget the 0-4 defeat to Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers in March.
Therefore, the current generation of U23 Vietnam needs to make more efforts to be able to close the gap with the naturalized players. In the near future, the whole team will have two important tournaments to hone their skills: the U23 Asian qualifiers in September (with the same group as Yemen, Singapore and Bangladesh) and the 33rd SEA Games at the end of the year.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/u23-viet-nam-gianh-chuc-vo-dich-bay-tam-ly-va-ban-linh-thep-cua-chien-binh-20250731022705655.htm
Comment (0)