Need to avoid stumbling
At the 33rd SEA Games, host Thailand decided to change the format of the men's football competition. The organizing committee decided to divide the 9 participating teams into 3 groups and only the first team in each group and the second team with the best results will advance.
Thailand wants to reduce the number of matches, reduce the intensity of continuous competition that young players have to face like in previous tournaments, and at the same time want to create more competition for each match. However, playing only 2 group stage matches forces the teams to be careful to avoid unfortunate stumbles.
A defeat would mean a significant increase in the risk of being eliminated. Even when they won 4 points after 2 matches (1 win, 1 draw), the Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia teams did not guarantee a solid place in the semi-finals. The reason is that related secondary indicators such as goal difference, head-to-head record... can impact them to lose the top spot to their opponents.
In fact, this format has been applied in the U23 Southeast Asian finals for some recent periods. U22 Vietnam experienced this story at the tournament held in Indonesia in July.
The group is not easy
U22 Vietnam continues in the same group as Laos and once again Mr. Kim Sang-sik meets with compatriot Ha Hyeok-jun. For more than a year, these two strategists have often struggled and the victory has always belonged to the Vietnamese captain.
Coach Ha Hyeok-jun is increasingly understanding Mr. Kim Sang-sik's tactics. Most recently, the Laos team caused Vietnam to stumble in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
"Remember, in that match, Laos used up to 8 U22 players. They created a tough, uncomfortable game. More notably, the generation of players from 2003 to 2005 participating in the 33rd SEA Games of Laos has been interested in and accumulated experience for 3-4 years, not just the past year as reported by the media. Many players have played in a series of tournaments for U22 and the Lao National Championship for many years" - former assistant coach of the Vietnam National Team Le Minh Dung analyzed.
Mr. Dung continued: Damoth Thongkham Savath is a typical face of the ambitious investment plan of Lao football. The conductor of U22 Laos was originally from the Ezra club. This is a team that received investment from a Korean unit. 60% of Hezbollah's force is currently national players.
In addition to Damoth going abroad and playing for Thanh Hoa, U22 Laos also has a name playing in Suphanburi (Thailand) called Sayfon Keohanam. This analysis shows how Laos has made progress and invested strategically. Obviously, U22 Vietnam will have to go through a rather difficult match against the representative of the land of a million elephants".
U22 Vietnam also faces another objective disadvantage around the match schedule.The team will start on December 3, which is just over 48 hours after arriving in Thailand.This affects the getting used to the field and climate conditions here.
Due to the later match, U22 Malaysia will know the result between Vietnam and Laos.From there, they have a basis to aim to beat Laos by a larger margin.At that time, in the match against Vietnam on December 11, Malaysia only needs to not lose to secure the top spot in the group and continue.
Of course, U22 Vietnam does not want to finish second in the group, especially when in Group A, Singapore and Thailand have the opportunity to share the top 2 positions and create a big goal difference against Timor Leste, the weakest at the SEA Games. If comparing the secondary indicators between the second-placed teams, Singapore or Thailand will have a big advantage over the second-placed team in Group B or C, Vietnam and Indonesia.
From these analysis, U22 Vietnam needs to ensure 2 wins in the group stage to participate in the semi-finals. It is true that compared to the forces participating in the 3 most recent SEA Games, U22 Vietnam is not as strong at present. But in terms of the opponent's correlation, we still have a basis to go deep and succeed at this congress" - coach Hoang Anh Tuan expressed his opinion.
