Two Vietnamese-American players, two completely opposite extremes in the Vietnam U.22 team

The piece that the U.22 Vietnam team is looking for

In all three matches of the international friendly tournament that just ended in Jiangsu (China), respectively against U.22 Korea (1-1 draw), Uzbekistan (0-0 draw) and China (1-1 draw), Viktor Le was named in the starting lineup of U.22 Vietnam.

Viktor Le (standing row, 3rd from left) is always present in the starting lineup of U.22 Vietnam at the tournament in China.

Photo: VFF

The Vietnamese-Russian player plays in the central midfielder position, with the task of recovering the ball and defending from a distance for the Vietnam U.22 team. In particular, when the attacking players including Nguyen Van Truong, Nguyen Phi Hoang and Nguyen Quoc Viet move up and approach the opponent's penalty area, Viktor Le will quietly fall back, with the task of "cleaning up" the bounced balls, helping coach Kim Sang-sik's team counter-attack.

With a good physique (1.78 m), and a playing style that is not afraid of collision, Viktor Le is the missing piece that the U.22 Vietnam team has been looking for since the 32nd SEA Games in 2023 until now. At the 32nd SEA Games, coach Philippe Troussier's team at that time had an abundance of attacking midfielders but lacked defensive midfielders. This made the young Vietnamese football team at that time very fragile in their ability to defend from a distance, often being attacked directly by the opponent and scoring goals.

Currently, Viktor Le is the perfect piece, standing right above the central defenders Le Van Ha and Nguyen Hieu Minh in the U.22 Vietnam team, helping the team play safely against strong Asian opponents including U.22 Korea, China and Uzbekistan.

Andrej Nguyen An Khanh needs to strive more

Compared to Viktor Le, Andrej Nguyen An Khanh has played much less time. The Vietnamese-Czech player was not named in the starting lineup of the U.22 Vietnam team at the recent tournament in China. Andrej Nguyen was given the number 10 shirt, with the expectation that he would bring creativity to coach Kim Sang-sik's team, but it seems that this number is quite "wide" for the midfielder returning from the Czech Republic.

Coach Kim Sang-sik always opens the national team's doors to overseas Vietnamese talents.

Photo: NGOC LINH

In this task, Andrej Nguyen showed that he is not sure to do better than Nguyen Phi Hoang or Nguyen Xuan Bac, and cannot be compared to captain midfielder Nguyen Van Truong.

Even in the supporting role of the attack, vice-captain Nguyen Quoc Viet sometimes retreats closer to the midfield, helping to increase the ball control ability of the U.22 Vietnam team, helping coach Kim Sang-sik's team not worry about lacking creative players to provide the ball to the front line.

Furthermore, if midfielders Khuat Van Khang and Nguyen Thai Son return from the national team in the qualifying round of the U.23 Asian Cup and SEA Games 33 this year, the midfield of U.22 Vietnam in the coming time will be even more crowded. Therefore, if Andrej Nguyen An Khanh wants to have a place in the U.22 Vietnam team in the above tournaments, he needs to make more efforts.

However, the presence of overseas Vietnamese players during this time also brings new colors to the national teams, increasing the selection of talent for the teams. Whether they are successful or not, the appearance of overseas Vietnamese players shows that Vietnamese football always welcomes these players with open arms, at the same time the appearance of overseas Vietnamese players helps increase the competitiveness in the national teams, including U.22 Vietnam, urging pure domestic players to always strive to maintain their position.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hai-cau-thu-viet-kieu-hai-thai-cuc-hoan-toan-trai-nguoc-o-doi-u22-viet-nam-185250329133139039.htm