Vietnam U23 Fear No Korea or Saudi Arabia: The Real Test Is Controlling the Moment

I stood in the corridor of Paloma Mizuho Stadium after the final whistle against Uzbekistan U23. On the pitch, a Vietnam U23 player walked toward the tunnel with his head down. He stopped, put his right palm on his shin, held it for three seconds, then continued. That was Xuan Bac, the player who left the match injured in the first half. To someone who only looked at the 0-2 scoreline, it was an ordinary defeat. To me, the way a player touches his pain before leaving the pitch says more than any number.

Before the match, the coaching staff wanted a cautious start. Coach Dinh Hong Vinh did not hide that. He wanted Vietnam U23 to withstand Uzbekistan's tempo and wait for space to counter. But the plan collapsed inside the opening fifteen minutes: a moment of lost concentration, an early goal, and everything became harder. After conceding, the team kept the ball more, but what to do with it was another story. The coach admitted that the rhythm was sometimes slow and the ability to exploit chances in the final third was not high. This was a form of possession without penetration.

Vietnam U23 still advanced to the Asiad 20 quarterfinals as Group C runners-up. The match took place on September 22 in Japan, and only three days later, on September 25, they will face the Group D winner. That will be either Korea U23 or Saudi Arabia U23, depending on the final round of that group. Group D was considered the group of death, so facing one of Asia's top teams was already expected. But what worries analysts is not the opponent's name, but the team's real condition after the defeat.

Xuan Bac's injury was the turning point. When he left, Vietnam's midfield lost its rhythm keeper. Not because the replacement played badly, but because the team had operated around his movement. Coach Dinh Hong Vinh mentioned this twice in the press conference: losing Xuan Bac meant losing transition rhythm. In the last twenty minutes of the first half, Vietnam had chances to equalize but failed. If the ball had gone in before halftime, the match could have turned. But it did not, and that showed that individual moments cannot replace structure.

More important was the squad context. This Vietnam U23 team is a mix of players who competed in the 2026 AFC U23 finals and new faces. Preparation time was short, and the lineup had many changes, not a group that had played dozens of matches together. Therefore, the slow rhythm and poor finishing were not individual problems, but the result of a lack of automatism in the system. The coach said he was satisfied with the attitude and fighting spirit. He also said the new players would improve in the future. This way of speaking shows that the staff are looking beyond one match.

But the media has its own way of telling stories. Vietnam U23 reaching the quarterfinals despite losing the final group match creates a sense of safety. The 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia and the penalty shootout win over Korea after a 2-2 draw at the 2026 AFC U23 finals further strengthen the belief that Vietnam U23 fear no one. Korea and Saudi Arabia are big names, but the recent head-to-head record favors Vietnam. This is a real psychological asset, not self-comfort.

However, I want to challenge one idea: people often think “not afraid” means playing aggressively and pushing forward. In reality, what Coach Dinh Hong Vinh is building is patience. When a team is weaker in physicality and speed, the only way not to fear is to keep structure and wait for the opponent's errors. But that style requires a midfield that can regain rhythm immediately after losing the ball. And that is where Xuan Bac's injury causes the greatest damage.

I remember Xuan Bac placing the ball for a free kick in training before the match. A ball placed down, the whole field holding its breath – I could hear his heartbeat before his foot touched the leather. That was the habit of a player who likes to control the moment, creating a pause before acting. That pause is missing in Vietnam U23's play against Uzbekistan. The team passed the ball, but nobody dared to slow down one beat to observe. Fast passing is not the same as correct attacking rhythm.

Compared to the group stage, the quarterfinal will be different in how the opponent approaches. Korea U23 often press high from the start, while Saudi Arabia U23 control the game with physicality. Both styles touch the exact weakness Vietnam showed against Uzbekistan: losing focus in the opening phase. If they concede early again, the problem will repeat. But if they keep a clean sheet in the first fifteen minutes, chances will come from set pieces and opponent mistakes.

This is when I remember the training sessions no camera recorded. There are training sessions no one films, but I keep them in my ears – the sound of boots on grass, the steady sound of practice like a heartbeat. In youth football, the stability of those sessions decides matches, not a few moments of brilliance. Vietnam U23 is missing that stability. So whether they face Korea or Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinal matters less than whether they can keep their breathing in every passage of play.

People remember goals, but I remember the three seconds before them – where a player chooses how to breathe. The quarterfinal takes place on September 25, only three days after the Uzbekistan match. Recovery time is short, the opponent's intensity is higher, and the possibility of Xuan Bac not playing must be considered. If Xuan Bac is absent, Vietnam U23 will have to choose a more direct, simpler plan. That is nothing to be ashamed of. For a team built from mixing and little time, simplicity can be the most effective weapon.

There is another detail from the Uzbekistan match that few mention. When the score was 0-1, the Vietnam goalkeeper made at least three consecutive saves, but the attack did not produce a single shot on target. The stadium was not too loud that day, but the frustration came from the team constantly touching the ball in safe areas. That is what I call attacking without daring to make a difference. The ball went to a midfielder, then sideways, then back to a center-back. The whole crowd waited for a vertical pass, but it never came.

If Vietnam U23 wants to make history at Asiad 20, they do not need to control the ball more than the opponent. They need to control the moment, because a young team with little preparation time can only survive through discipline and rhythm, not individual explosions. Every young team has moments of chaos. What makes the difference is which team is chaotic for a shorter period. Against Uzbekistan, Vietnam U23 was chaotic because of the early goal, then more chaotic because of Xuan Bac's injury. In the quarterfinal, that cannot happen again. Coach Dinh Hong Vinh can respond by asking his players to play simpler, pass one beat faster, and rotate positions constantly.

Southeast Asian football is often criticized for holding the ball too long. Vietnam U23 showed that sign against Uzbekistan. But looking at the past, it was precisely the pauses before finishing that helped Vietnamese players trouble Korea and Saudi Arabia at the 2026 AFC U23 finals. They did not win with power, but with patience and the ability to exploit mistakes. So “fearless” against Korea or Saudi Arabia does not mean playing end-to-end football. It means staying calm when the opponent pushes forward.

I have followed Vietnamese youth football for many years and realized one thing: the most successful young teams are those that turn fear into discipline. This Vietnam U23 team has the foundation to do that, thanks to the experience of the 2026 AFC U23 players. They have felt pressure against Saudi Arabia, gone through a shootout with Korea, watched the ball hit the net, and understood that nothing is more frightening than losing direction on the pitch. So the story of the quarterfinal is not about the opponent's name.

The issue is not how much stronger Korea or Saudi Arabia is than Vietnam U23. It is whether Coach Dinh Hong Vinh's team can keep its own rhythm in a match where the opponent will try to break the game apart. If Xuan Bac does not recover in time, who will place the ball down at the right moment, calm enough to see the whole goal before choosing the pass? It could be a young player given a new chance. And I will listen to his breathing before the ball rolls, because in that breathing lies the answer.

The quarterfinal on September 25 will not be beautiful. It could be tense, low-scoring, and full of fouls. But a young team learns more from such matches. Fans have the right to expect Vietnam U23 not to fear Korea or Saudi Arabia. I think so too. Only, courage in football does not come from pushing the line higher; it comes from enduring pressure without losing structure. That is what I will watch in the first minute, in the hands of the player standing over the ball, and in their breath in the tunnel before kickoff.