Vietnam - Australia: The beginning of the U20 World Cup dream
* Vietnam - Australia: 5pm today on MetaSports.
The Asian U20 tournament is always counted as the 2022 U20 World Cup qualifier, with four teams entering the semi-finals with tickets. Therefore, Australia brought the strongest force, including the 18-year-old striker who spent three years in the Newcastle first team, Jets Archie Goodwin, Brazilian-born winger Bernardo Oliveira, or the quartet playing in the country. in addition to Matthew Dench (England), Joshua Rawlins (Netherlands), Jing Reec (Denmark), Gabriel Popovic (Croatia). This team also showed some strength when winning in the qualifying round.
"We came here with the goal of being in the final on March 18. I believe we can," coach Trevor Morgan announced. "Vietnam is a difficult opponent to play. But we will find a way to break their play, and win."
At the national team level, Australia is an outsized opponent that Vietnam has never won. But at the youth level, when the players have not yet perfected their tactics and have little experience, it is a completely different story. Vietnam defeated Australia 5-1 in the 2014 AFC U19 Championship with a brace from Nguyen Cong Phuong, won 3-2 after being led by two goals at the 2016 Asian U16 Championship, or won 1-0 in the round. 2018 Asian U23 group with Nguyen Quang Hai's goal, and then went straight to the final in Changzhou.
At the 2023 Asian U20 tournament, Vietnam fell into a difficult group with the participation of Australia, Qatar and Iran. However, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan's teachers and students still set the target at least through the group stage. To make that happen, getting points against Australia is extremely important.
The presence of coach Hoang Anh Tuan is also a great motivation for the players. He was the one who created the miracle of helping Vietnam's 11-man football pitch for the first time at the World Cup. In the group stage of the 2016 Asian U19 Championship, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his students won tickets to the knockout round despite having to face three strong opponents, North Korea, Iraq and the UAE. The team then continued to shock when defeating host Bahrain to enter the semi-finals, and also won tickets to the U20 FIFA World Cup in 2017.
The suspension of professional football tournaments in Vietnam helps Vietnam U20 get the best force. The players who are fighting in the V-League such as Khuat Van Khang (Viettel), Dinh Xuan Tien (SLNA), Bui Vi Hao (Binh Duong) ... are also present to compete in the Asian U20. To prepare for this tournament, the team has gathered since January, practiced domestically and then trained in the UAE.
"I have watched the Australian youth teams, including their U20s. This team has strengths but also weaknesses," coach Hoang Anh Tuan shared before the match. "The team has trained well, also has the best force for the match."
Hoang Anh Tuan and his students no longer have to worry about yard problems. In the past few days, the teams had to practice at a very bad pitch in Uzbekistan, and Indonesia's coach Shin Tae-yong had to say, "I can't imagine this field". However, the playing field is quality. After the familiarization session yesterday 28/2, coach Hoang Anh Tuan said that the pitch is good and will not affect the play of Vietnam and Australia.
Vietnam: Van Binh, Nguyen Hoang, Manh Hung, Duc Anh, Van Cuong, Duc Viet, Duc Phu, Van Khang, Van Truong, Thanh Nhan, Quoc Viet.
Australia: Badolato, Donnell, Forde, Madana, Drew, Goodwin, Oliveira, Popovic, Rawlins, Simmon, Warshasky.
