9 points, 12 goals scored and 2 goals conceded after 4 matches is the summary of the U20 team in Group A of the qualifying round. Basically, that is a good number, but completely not enough to be on the train to China next year. Because when the score with the team at the bottom of the group (U20 Bhutan) is not counted, U20 Vietnam only has 6 points from 3 matches and 5 goals scored against this opponent are also taken away.
It was also the biggest win for U20 Vietnam, so when they were stunned to see the ticket slip away from their hands, fans regretted why the players did not score more goals in other matches when they could have done so. Remember, while U20 Syria beat U20 Guam by 10 goals, U20 Vietnam only scored 3 goals. On the contrary, U20 Syria only won 1-0 against U20 Bhutan, while U20 Vietnam won 5-0.
There will be assessments that, when the matches have not yet taken place, nothing can be said in advance. That is true, but based on the strength of the opponents, the coaching staff will have to assess which matches need to focus on to score goals. In the race for the second-place teams, the goal difference is an important factor.
Or perhaps, coach Hua Hien Vinh set the goal of defeating U20 Syria to get a direct ticket to the final round so he did not care about the extra goal difference. But with what was shown, the desire to win was not seen at all.
Another hypothesis is that U20 Vietnam proactively sought a draw. This is the highest possibility, because if they had 7 points, the team would have been among the second-placed teams with good results to reach the final round. But the moment of losing concentration at the end of the match ruined everything. Although they also had 6 points like the other 4 teams, U20 Vietnam was eliminated because they were 4 goals behind (+5 compared to +8 of U20 Jordan).
Playing at home in Lach Tray, facing much weaker opponents, U20 Vietnam still left a superficial feeling somewhere. It lacked enthusiasm, lacked professional highlights, while sometimes what people remember most are the actions of covering their ears and keeping their mouths shut as if to send a warning to someone...
