Vietnam loses to Uzbekistan in M-150 Cup final

Former national coach Mai Duc Chung said it was a ’good’ defeat for Vietnam’s U-23 team who lost 1-2 to Uzbekistan during their M-150 Cup match on December 13 in Thailand.
Vietnam loses to Uzbekistan in M-150 Cup final ảnh 1 Vietnamese striker Nguyen Cong Phuong (L) gets away from Uzbek player during their M-150 Cup match. Uzbekistan won 2-1 (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Formernational coach Mai Duc Chung said it was a ’good’ defeat for Vietnam’s U-23team who lost 1-2 to Uzbekistan during their M-150 Cup match on December 13 inThailand.

Chung, who left his post in October to focus onthe women’s team, meant that it would help both players and coaches of thesquad to find out and fix their weaknesses ahead of their Asian Championshipnext January.

In the December 13 game, coach Park Hang-seoused the 3-4-3 formulation which is very new to Vietnam. Players did not seemto work fluently, especially the defenders, leading to their loss.

Do Duy Manh, a member of the national team andkey player of Hanoi FC, made mistakes in both goals.

Both, players and coaches, knew that Uzbeks weretaller and bigger than the Vietnamese and would create a lot of challenges.However, Vietnam did not meet any difficulty in the first 30 minutes when theyset up a better situation with more attacks and on-target finishes.

But it was the Uzbeks who opened the score froma simple counter-attack.

Abdixolikov Bobir received a pass from the rightwing and shot into the net from just five metres.

The low pass, earlier, came close to defenderMạnh who could easily have kicked it out but he missed, giving a chance toBobir who did not waste the golden opportunity.

A loss meant that Vietnam would fail to make thefriendly Cup’s final. This was the reason that Vietnamese players pushed uptheir speed and created consecutive attempts in the rest of the time of thefirst half. However, their efforts failed.

After the interval, Park made two changes in hisline-up and Vietnam round the equaliser.

Midfielder Nguyen Phong Hong Duy went down inthe box and Vietnam were given a penalty.

Striker Nguyen Cong Phuong succeeded with a kickto his right corner at the 60th minute.

Coach Chung in commentary shows between twohalves and after the match said Uzbekistan’s playing style was very simple.They just brought the ball ahead, passed it to the box for their forwards whocould either shoot in or make headers.

However, this style worked very well against Vietnamwhose defence lost their contact and did not cover for each other.

The second goal for Uzbekistan came from that65th-minute situation.

Captain Urinboev Zabikhillo received theball when he was surrounded by three Vietnamese defenders and headed to thenet. Goalkeeper Hoang pushed it out but it was not strong enough to save hisnet.

Urinboev fell to the ground after his header butquickly stood up and shot straight to the net. This time, Hoang could not stopthe ball.

Defender Manh also took part in this incidentbut again failed to defend his net.

"It is a problem when players choose theirplaces to resist an attack. It is also a problem of a familiar position of aplayer in a team. (The new formulation) put them in a strange place and theydid not work well, I think," said Chung.

Three more changes were made to the Vietnamside. Attacking midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai who scored two goals in theprevious match and striker Ha Duc Chinh, who impressed Park with his sevengoals in the V. League, were on the field.

Though they brought some fresh air into the teamit was not enough to find the goal although several threatening chances werecreated.

Uzbekistan also had their moments and theynearly scored the third goal near the end of the match but goalie Hoang did hisjob well.

Park showed his disappointment in the post-matchconference, saying his players had played a selfish match and had not worked asa team.

He said his players were playing below par andhe was not satisfied with their performance.

Park said his team was sad but thanks to theloss he realised that some things needed to be changed. They would first focuson the third-place match in which he would maintain the 3-4-3 line-up.

Losing this match, Vietnam ranked second inGroup B and will play the bronze-medal match against the second-placed team ofGroup A on December 15.

Uzbekistan will compete for a gold medalagainst the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who beat Thailand 1-0 in alater match on December 13.-VNA
VNA

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