U23 Vietnam - U23 Malaysia (8pm today): Win to continue

(Dan Tri) - In theory, U23 Malaysia is the weakest team in Group D of the 2024 U23 Asian Cup. This is an opportunity for coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team to defeat their Southeast Asian rivals and win a ticket to the next round.

*The match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Malaysia will take place at 8:00 p.m. tonight (April 20, Vietnam time), at Khalifa International Stadium, in Al Rayyan (Qatar). Dan Tri will report this match online. Compared to U23 Malaysia, U23 Vietnam is rated higher, at least in theory. In the first match of Group D, coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team beat Kuwait 3-1, while U23 Malaysia lost 0-2 to Uzbekistan. However, those results appeared when the two Southeast Asian teams clashed with opponents outside the Southeast Asian region. When U23 Vietnam and U23 Malaysia meet, the nature of this confrontation will be completely different.

U23 Việt Nam - U23 Malaysia (20h hôm nay): Chiến thắng để đi tiếp - 1

U23 Vietnam is confident that it will defeat U23 Malaysia (Photo: AFC).

First, the general level of football in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Malaysia, is not significantly different. Moreover, both teams, including U23 Malaysia and U23 Vietnam, know each other very well and have clashed many times in regional tournaments, so the match with U23 Malaysia will not be easy for U23 Vietnam. We cannot look at U23 Malaysia's loss to Uzbekistan to assume that Malaysia will play similarly to when facing U23 Vietnam. Against Uzbekistan, it is possible that Malaysian players were stuck and could not find a way into the opponent's goal. This mainly comes from the fact that Uzbekistan players have very high technical skills, causing Malaysia to not find opportunities. But when playing against U23 Vietnam, Malaysia will not be stuck like that, because the level and technical quality of Vietnamese players are not as high as Uzbekistan players.

U23 Vietnam and U23 Malaysia understand each other very well (Photo: Do Minh Quan).

In addition, the physical strength of the Malaysian players is also very good, so to defeat them, U23 Vietnam must first reach a physical state at least equal to the opponent. Of course, U23 Vietnam will have more opportunities than Malaysia, because we are more evenly matched than the opponent. But once again, this match will not be easy for coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team. In particular, U23 Vietnam players need to avoid mistakes like what happened in the match with Kuwait a few days ago. The central defenders play more solidly, limit the habit of making unnecessary mistakes, especially mistakes near the 16m50 area. As for the front line, the passes must be better, not making many bad passes like in the opening match against Kuwait. Anyway, whether the U23 Vietnam team wins or not against U23 Malaysia still depends mainly on our own performance. The U23 Vietnam players still hold the right to decide. We believe that coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team will make good use of this right to self-determination. Prediction: U23 Vietnam wins 2-0.