World press praises both Vietnam and Japan

Vietnam was praised for its competitive attitude, but Japan was also highly appreciated for demonstrating its position as the world's top team in the opening match of the 2023 Asian Cup.

The news site of the American television channel ESPN headlined: "Japan overcomes fear in Asian Cup opening match, while brave defeat is a good omen for Vietnam". According to this channel, the expectation of a comfortable victory for Asia's number one team did not come true.

At Al Thumama Stadium on the evening of January 14, Japan opened the scoring in the 11th minute thanks to Takumi Minamino, then fell behind 1-2 after two set pieces scored by Nguyen Dinh Bac and Pham Tuan Hai. However, shining moments from Minamino and Keito Nakamura helped Japan regain the lead before the break. Despite dominating the second half, the championship candidate could only score one more goal, setting the score at 4-2 in the 85th minute thanks to substitute striker Ayase Ueda.

Vietnamese players celebrate Pham Tuan Hai's goal to increase the score to 2-1, in the 2-4 loss to Japan in the opening match of Group D of the 2023 Asian Cup. Photo: Lam Thoa

ESPN assessed that the two goals conceded against Vietnam are lessons for Japan to adjust for the remaining two matches in Group D, against Iraq on January 19 and Indonesia on January 24. Meanwhile, Vietnam can be optimistic as it has a group of talented young players to replace the "golden generation" under coach Park Hang-seo. In addition, the performance against Japan will give Vietnam more confidence before the decisive match against Indonesia on January 19.

The South Korean newspaper Osen commented that Vietnam surprised everyone by scoring two goals against Japan, although it could not produce a miraculous victory. "Vietnam showed its potential against the world's 17th team," the article said.

Meanwhile, Siam Sport newspaper gave stronger praise to coach Philippe Troussier and his team, describing Tuan Hai's goal to lead 2-1 as "shaking Asia and making many people rub their eyes to see if it was true". Thai newspapers highly appreciated Vietnam's performance because they used a force with little international experience after many key players were absent due to injury. In addition, according to Siam Sport , if it weren't for Keito Nakamura's brilliant long-range shot in the third minute of injury time in the first half, the surprise could have continued.

"Vietnam has been elevated to become a classy team," commented Siam Sport . "Many Thai fans also highly appreciate it, saying that they should learn from coach Philippe Troussier's tactics."

Takumi Minamino (No. 8) shined with a double and an assist to help Japan come from behind to beat Vietnam. Photo: Lam Thoa

British news agency Reuters commented that Vietnam made the match "dramatic". The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) homepage said that Japan had won hard and Nakamura's goal "extinguished Vietnam's resistance".

Japanese newspaper JiJi was calm about the victory with a short article: "Japan came back without haste in a fixed game. They calmly held the ball to turn the situation around and even when making substitutions in the second half, they did not lose control."

Japan's Soccer Digest assessed that the home team faced another difficult opening match, like the 3-2 win over Turkmenistan at the 2019 Asian Cup. However, the difference is that Japan is now missing some key players but still shows strong attacking power. "The team may remember the difficulty of the first match," the article said. "But at the same time, they show the depth of the squad and progress in playing style with the ambition to become a top team in the world."

This was Japan's 11th consecutive victory with 49 goals. An article on Chinese news aggregator Sohu considered this statistic as evidence of the "destructive power" of the East Asian neighboring team. The article said: "Vietnam caused difficulties, but only temporarily, and a match lasts 90 minutes. Even when they were behind, Japan still moved forward and attacked without panic. When leading 3-2, they did not give their opponents any chance to rise again."

Vnexpress.net

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