A successful test is enough

Basic initial steps

According to the plan, the Vietnamese team began to gather on October 2 at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center. However, in the first days of training, the team will have many gaps in force because the group of players from the Hanoi Police Club, Thanh Hoa, Hanoi and Hai Phong are all busy with domestic and international tournaments. In the first days of gathering, the Vietnamese team will still mainly focus on passing, controlling the ball and coordinating within a small area. The coaching staff will still closely monitor each player regarding the position, posture of receiving the ball, the time of passing, the time of moving and receiving the ball; the quality of the pass and the requirement for intentional head contact to serve the following requirements.

Thử nghiệm thành công là đủ - Ảnh 1. — Coach Troussier surprised everyone when he called 17-year-old player Nguyen Cong Phuong *(right)* to the Vietnam national team.

The third training day of the Vietnamese team had an unexpected adjustment. Coach Troussier postponed the afternoon training session to late evening. In the first phase of the training session, the French coach had the players practice team coordination, movement and finishing. In the second exercise, Coach Troussier arranged many dummies in the area in front of and inside the penalty area. The players' task was to coordinate in the middle, pass the ball into the opponent's defense before crossing for the teammate inside to finish. Overall, these are still basic initial steps for the players, there have not been any team coordination exercises with high requirements on tactical factors while the friendly match with the Chinese team is only 3 days away.

The Chinese team really needs a win.

In the most recent meeting between the Vietnamese and Chinese teams, Vietnamese fans certainly have not forgotten the sweet memories of the 3-1 victory right on the first day of the Lunar New Year (February 2022). More importantly, it was a match in which we surpassed our opponents in all aspects, scoring 3 beautiful and convincing goals by Tan Tai, Tien Linh and Phan Van Duc. Sweet for Vietnamese fans but bitter for our neighbors. This was the first time the Chinese team lost to Vietnam in the last 5 official confrontations, but it was the most painful defeat because it was an important arena (the 3rd qualifying round of the World Cup).

In the past 2 years, both teams have changed a lot. New coaches have also arrived: Coach Troussier of the Vietnamese team and Coach Aleksandar Jankovic has been leading the Chinese team since July 2022. Under the guidance of the 51-year-old Serbian coach, Wu Lei and his teammates have also had 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. Among them, there were notable results when they easily won against Myanmar and Palestine, but drew 1-1 with Malaysia and lost 0-1 to Syria in the most recent match. Therefore, the Chinese team really needs a victory to calm the criticism of fans after the poor results. There have also been strategic changes by their opponents when they no longer rely too much on naturalized foreign players. In the most recent match against Syria, only Al Kesen was on the registration list.

China's attacking power is not too worrying even though Wu Lei's form is quite good (15 goals/27 matches for Shanghai Post Club). They still lack smoothness, coordination, and creativity in attacking arrangements, but in return, the team led by coach Jankovic will certainly use physical strength, fitness, physique, height, and power to pressure us. The problem is how coach Troussier and his team will cope when there is too little time to prepare, the team is also facing difficulties when the pillars are not ready, and the young players, in some cases like Cong Phuong (17 years old), are too inexperienced. But the advantage of the Vietnamese team is a relaxed spirit, coach Troussier's students are feeling excited after a series of 3 consecutive wins. After all, this is just an international friendly match, so winning or losing is not necessarily the most important factor. For a teacher and "missionary" like Mr. Troussier, sometimes a few successful experiments are enough.

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