Going a little further, at the 32nd SEA Games in May 2023, coach Philippe Troussier's U22 Vietnam also received a regrettable result in a similar way. It was the semi-final match against U22 Indonesia, with an effort to equalize 2-2 when the opponent had only 10 players left in the last 30 minutes. At that time, U22 Vietnam could have dragged the match into extra time, taken advantage of the advantage of having more players and finished the match. But no, the young players rushed to attack and received a "counterattack", conceding the third goal in the extra minute.
At that time, criticism appeared as much as when the U20 team recently failed, that the players' lack of experience made them pay a high price. Those were two of the recent failures of Vietnamese football in the continental arena.
It seems that the lessons have shown some value, because on Sunday (October 27), the Vietnam U17 team did not make the same mistake. Although the goal was to beat Yemen U17 to get a direct ticket to the U17 Asian finals, the situation created a greater opportunity for Cristiano Roland and his team, as they only needed a draw.
And after the score of 1-1, the second half was a development in which people saw the players' initiative in slowing down. Finally, U17 Vietnam completed the mission, winning a ticket to the final round as one of the 5 second-placed teams with good results. Somewhere there were negative reactions to the way the players performed, but coincidentally, in a similar situation, U17 Indonesia and U17 Australia also decided their own fate with a "saw-and-saw" performance that in the eyes of many people was "very bad" and "should not be seen in young players".
It is true that the action is bad, but it also shows that, sometimes, when faced with the opportunity to touch the target, one needs to grab it in the fastest, best, and wisest way without breaking the rules - like what Phu Duc did to become the champion of the Road to Olympia 2024.
It is not difficult to imagine what will happen if U17 Vietnam also falls like their seniors. So having a chance to improve is better than being empty-handed.
