Lacking a pillar, Indonesia still shows its superior strength against Vietnamese men's volleyball

Even without the service of the No. 1 star Rivan Nurmulki, the Indonesian squad is still much more appreciated than Vietnam. In addition to the advantage of playing in the opponent's home field, Tu Thanh Thuan and his teammates are expected to face many difficulties on the second day of competition at SEA V.League 2023.

Indonesia showed certain awkwardness in the early minutes, but soon after they regained their sense of the ball and completely overwhelmed the Vietnamese volleyball team. The first disadvantage of coach Tran Dinh Tien's students continues to be exploited by strong and powerful kicking situations on the Indonesian side. Despite taking the lead very early, Vietnam still let Indonesia come back and win 25-20.

Entering the second set, the home team still dominated the game and easily caught the attacking ball of Vietnam. To break the stalemate, coach Tran Dinh Tien threw Nguyen Van Quoc Duy on the field to replace captain Tu Thanh Thuan. This tactical adjustment has partly worked, helping Vietnam to shorten the gap. However, with the huge difference in scores, Vietnam still could not avoid the 19-25 defeat.

Set 3 witnessed the great efforts of the Vietnamese men's volleyball team as our athletes competed fairly in the first half of the set despite the difference in level. However, in the next period, Indonesia continued to attack the weakness of the first step of Vietnam, especially in the position of Ngoc Thuan and Van Hiep to break through. Set 3 officially closed with the score 25-20 in favor of the home team after Quoc Duy's failed kick.

With a 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-19, 25-20), Indonesia continues to compete for the top spot with Thailand, the team also has 2 wins at SEA V.League 2023 after just defeating the Philippines in the previous match. Although there is no Rivan Nurmulki in the squad, Indonesia is still showing the strength of the Southeast Asian champion thanks to the brilliance of owner Fahry Septian Putratama and assistant Farhan Halim.

The Vietnamese men's volleyball team has made commendable efforts, however, in front of superior opponents in terms of class like Thailand or Indonesia, the fatal weakness of coach Tran Dinh Tien's students is still fully exploited. Hopefully, in the later stages of the tournament, Vietnam will make positive changes to bring more emotional matches to fans.