Lê Nguyễn Anh Khoa celebrating his second goal that sealed the victory for Việt Nam against Malaysia. VNA/VNS Photo Văn Lanh

Anh Đức

Sir Bobby Robson, one of England national football team's greatest managers, once wrote eleven "commandments" for a good manager.

In one of those eleven suggestions, Robson advised coaches and managers to "react positively to criticism, and decrease the stress".

That was what Hoàng Anh Tuấn, manager of Việt Nam U23 did to turn the tide for Việt Nam, after an unconvincing first match.

The Việt Nam U23 players were under huge pressure before the tournament, after a long year of failures in international football by the senior national side.

The 3-1 win in the match against Kuwait does not mean that Việt Nam played wonderfully, but in fact showed that the team lacked the mentality needed in crucial situations. Had it not been for Kuwait's fumbles in the second half, the result might have been much different.

Exhibit A was the challenge that caused the red card and penalty by Nguyễn Ngọc Thắng in the first half. The defender, who played two dozen matches in the V-League, had to push the opposition striker down inside the box, in a situation where his goalkeeper could have rushed out and controlled the situation.

Exhibit B, Khuất Văn Khang was through on goal, but Nguyễn Văn Tùng also went for the ball and crashed into Khang in the process, ruining a perfect chance for an early lead.

Exhibit C, Nguyễn Minh Quang had an empty net to shoot the easiest goal of his career, but stuttered for a moment and a defender was able to block the shot.

These three proofs show that the Young Warriors lacked communication, cleverness and decisiveness, which result primarily from their mentality.

If the past year of the Troussier era has shown us anything, it is that mentality matters, especially in team sports. The senior team had an okay match against Japan in the Asian Cup, earning praise, but were not mentally prepared for the next match against Indonesia, and mentally collapsed after a clumsy penalty, eventually losing the crucial match for qualification.

Tuấn learned from the lesson of his predecessor, and quickly identified that the problem was the mentality, not the ability of the players. The coach then alleviated the pressure before the match, creating fun games for the team to play in the final training before the crucial game against Malaysia, and brought smiles all around for the players.

The result? Việt Nam, despite struggling in the early stages, played bravely and won 2-0, silenced critics and advanced to the quarterfinals.

The Young Warriors seem to play better every match, but the tournament is not over and there is still much work to be done, especially in the early parts of the game where opponents tend to play more actively than Việt Nam.

Hopefully, with the burden of qualification out of the way, Việt Nam will fly higher, as the hurdles from now on get tougher. First: Uzbekistan's golden generation on Tuesday. VNS