Vietnam U-23 Together Indonesia U-23 To The U-23 Asian Cup Quarter-finals

JAKARTA - Vietnam U-23 confirmed the move to the quarter-finals of the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup with only two matches. The Golden Star has collected six points.

The points were difficult to catch up with in Malaysia U-23 and Kuwait U-23 which had not yet packed the numbers.

The certainty of the ticket to the knockout round they got after overthrowing Malaysia U-23 two goals without reply on April 20, 2024.

Previously, Vietnam U-23 surprisingly defeated the strong team of Kuwait U-23 with a convincing score of 3-1 in the group's first match.

The flexibility of tactics is the key to the slick appearance of Vietnam U-23 in the group stage. In addition to that strategy, it was successful against Kuwait U-23, just look at the match against Malaysia U-23 when The Golden Star played different tactics in two rounds.

In the first half, they played openly and managed to maintain a 1-0 lead through Khuat Van Khang's (39') goal until halftime.

In the second half, coach Hoang Anh Tuan preferred to play tight by strengthening the defense while stealing a chance to counterattack.

The tactics paid off. Malaysia U-23, which focused on finding the equaliser's goal, was even careless during the Vietnam U-23 counter-attack.

The fast movement scheme, which started from self-defense, actually made it difficult for the Malayan Tigers. In the aftermath, Malaysia U-23 had to violate Vietnam's U-23 players in the penalty box.

"The players did their job well. They followed tactics and were very disciplined, this was a very good result for Vietnam U-23." "It was a difficult match. Malaysia U-23 was not a weak team. We suffered at the end of the match. In the second half, we played with a counterattack and it worked," said Hoang coach Anh Tuan.

Vietnam U-23 and Uzbekistan U-23 will be representatives of Group D who will fight in the quarter-finals. Both have packed six points from two matches.

Group D's final match between Vietnam U-23 vs Uzbekistan U-23 on April 23, 2024 will only determine who will win the group.

Meanwhile, Vietnam U-23 and Indonesia U-23 became two Southeast Asian teams that stepped into the knockout stages. Then, Thailand U-23 had to play the final match to hunt tickets to the quarter-finals and Malaysia U-23 was certain to fall in the group stage.