Performance not meeting requirements
U20 Vietnam is facing difficulties in Group C of the 2027 AFC U20 Asian Cup qualifiers after two consecutive defeats. If the defeat to U20 DPRK may be partly explained by incomplete force preparation, then the 1-2 defeat to U20 Palestine shows many problems of the team.
Against an opponent considered fit, U20 Vietnam did not create a good enough game for most of the time. Mr. Yutaka Ikeuchi's students had difficulty putting the ball up and lacked accuracy in decisive situations. It was not until the 28th minute that U20 Vietnam had their first notable shot, but Duy Dang's shot was not dangerous enough to create a goal.
While the attack took a long time to find an opportunity, the defense made mistakes leading to a goal conceded. In the 34th minute, after the ball bounced out, the Vietnamese players did not have time to press, creating conditions for the opponent to have enough space to launch a shot to defeat goalkeeper Dinh Bach.
U20 Vietnam equalized 1-1 in the 66th minute and created more chances to take the lead. However, finishing ability is still a weakness when the home team missed at least 5 delicious situations, including 2 one-on-one situations with the Palestinian goalkeeper. Not taking advantage of the opportunity, U20 Vietnam had to pay the price when letting the opponent score the 2nd goal in the 82nd minute.
In fact, U20 Vietnam has not yet improved the limitations that appeared in the match against U20 DPRK. In the opening match, U20 Vietnam played relatively well in the first half but conceded 3 goals in just the first 13 minutes of the second half. Coach Yutaka Ikeuchi once admitted that conceding goals continuously made the players' competitive psychology become impatient, pushing up the attacking formation and losing balance.
One of the reasons pointed out is the instability of the force. Compared to the 10-day training camp in Japan, the list of 23 players participating in the qualifying round has 12-13 new faces. The training time of only about a week has made the U20 Vietnam squad not achieve the necessary cohesion, in which defender Quang Kiet only had about 2 training sessions with the whole team.
This disruption affects the team's performance, as after two matches, U20 Vietnam has not shown a clear improvement in playing style and coordination ability.
The door to continue is still open, but we must avoid "grading".
Two defeats put U20 Vietnam at the bottom of Group C and almost no longer have the right to self-determination in the race to win tickets to the 2027 AFC U20 Championship finals. However, the opportunity has not closed for Quoc Khanh and his teammates.
Based on the current situation, U20 Vietnam must defeat U20 Iran with a difference of at least 2 goals in the final match, and at the same time wait for U20 DPRK to overcome U20 Palestine. At that time, U20 Vietnam, U20 Iran and U20 Palestine will all have 3 points and direct head-to-head record will be used to determine the ranking.
If this condition is met, U20 Vietnam has an advantage thanks to a large victory over U20 Iran, while they have lost to U20 Palestine with a 1-goal difference. At that time, U20 Vietnam may be ranked second in Group C, while Iran is ranked third and Palestine is last because Iran once beat Palestine 2-1.
However, second place in the group does not mean winning the right to participate in the final round. The achievements of the runners-up teams in the 8 groups continue to be compared to determine 7 seats to continue. The case that Group A only has 3 teams left due to the Philippines withdrawing also affects the method of calculating achievements. With a favorable scenario, U20 Vietnam will have 3 points and a goal difference of -1 or more when placed next to other runners-up teams in the group. This is a condition allowing coach Yutaka Ikeuchi and his team to hope for a seat to continue, even though the door is very narrow.
Conversely, if they continue to lose to U20 Iran on September 6, U20 Vietnam will not only end hopes in the qualifiers but also face the possibility of playing in the Development group (promotion) in the next qualifiers.
