4 matches before the 2026 AFC U23 Championship semi-final against U23 Vietnam, U23 China completely played defensively. The fact that they could only score 1 goal, and have not conceded any goals at the tournament has proven this.
Meanwhile, U23 Vietnam is one of the teams possessing the best attack at the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Finals, along with a fairly impressive attacking style of play.
It seemed that U23 Vietnam would play offensively against a U23 China that played tightly in defense, but coach Antonio Puche's unexpected tactics brought about a difference.
Before U23 Vietnam, it was no longer a U23 China "building a bus" in front of the goal, but this team actively played offensively. They were even the team with more ball possession than U23 Vietnam. The change in tactics and tactics of the opponent partly surprised U23 Vietnam quite a bit.
In addition, Hieu Minh's injury forced to leave the field has affected the psychology of U23 Vietnam. The absence of key players in the defense caused coach Kim Sang-sik's team to have problems in the face of opponents' attacks.
This is also the reason why U23 Vietnam conceded 2 quick goals in the early minutes of the second half. In both situations leading to the conceded goal, the U23 Vietnam defense made positional errors.
And the situation of conceding the 3rd goal, although this goal was not recognized afterwards, Ly Duc's red card for foul play due to hot temper extinguished all hopes of U23 Vietnam. Playing with one less player in a 2-goal lead, U23 Vietnam could not turn the tide of the match and conceded a 3rd goal in added time.
Suffering a 0-3 defeat to U23 China in the semi-finals of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, U23 Vietnam will have a third-place match against U23 Korea.
