Southeast Asian Newspaper: "Thailand has the advantage in confrontation, but Vietnam team is very strong"
Báo Dân trí•02/01/2025
(Dan Tri) - Southeast Asian media have different opinions about the two teams Vietnam and Thailand. However, they agree that the final match of the AFF Cup 2024 will be very tense.
CNN Indonesia said: "Thailand has an advantage in head-to-head matches compared to the Vietnamese team. The Vietnamese team has never won against Thailand since the 2008 AFF Cup final. That is a very beautiful memory for Vietnamese football." "The last time the Vietnamese team met the Thai team in an official tournament was the 2022 AFF Cup final. At that time, Thailand defeated the team of coach Park Hang Seo (Korean) with a thrilling 1-0 result in the second leg of the final, after the two teams drew 2-2 in the first leg. Thailand (blue shirt) is the most successful team in the AFF Cup (Photo: FAT). Also in the golden era of the Vietnamese team under coach Park Hang Seo, they beat Thailand at the King's Cup in 2019, but this tournament was not an official tournament. This year, the Vietnamese team will challenge Thailand in the AFF Cup final," CNN Indonesia added. Meanwhile, Singapore's The Straits Times did not pay much attention to the results of the confrontations between the Thai and Vietnamese teams in the past. The issue that Singapore's leading daily newspaper mentioned was the current strength of both sides. The S traits Times commented: "The Vietnamese team is one of the strongest teams in Southeast Asia. They are a force in regional football. In the two semi-finals, the Singapore team tried to compete with the Vietnamese team, but failed." Meanwhile, Malaysia's English daily The Star commented: "The 2024 AFF Cup final is predestined between the Vietnamese and Thai teams. The Thai team booked their place in the final after beating the Philippines with an extra-time goal from Suphanat Mueanta. "Before that, the Vietnamese team booked their place in the final with a resounding 5-1 victory over Singapore. The first leg of the final will be held at Viet Tri Stadium on Thursday (January 2), while the second leg will be held in Bangkok on Sunday (January 5)," the Malaysian newspaper wrote. The Vietnamese team has a chance to win the AFF Cup championship, starting the new year smoothly (Photo: Do Minh Xuan). On the Thai media side, the leading daily newspaper of the Golden Temple country, Thairath , hopes that the Vietnamese team will have personnel changes before the final match. Thairath wrote: "Striker Nguyen Xuan Son of the Vietnamese team had to practice separately in the recent training session because of a sore calf. This could be bad news for the Vietnamese team. In this training session, the Vietnamese players were divided into two groups, one group consisting of players who officially competed with Singapore only jogged lightly, the other group practiced with the ball". "The player who has scored the most goals for the Vietnamese team so far, Nguyen Xuan Son, is not present in either of the above groups. Xuan Son only practices alone because of a sore calf. This player often rubs his calf while practicing", Thairath reported. The leading Thai daily also talked about the importance of Nguyen Xuan Son in the Korean coach's squad: "Xuan Son scored two goals, helping coach Kim Sang Sik's team win 3-1 against Singapore in the second leg of the semi-final at Viet Tri Stadium on the evening of December 29. In the end, the Vietnamese team won 5-1 after two matches". "Although Xuan Son's injury is not serious, there are still some doubts about the possibility of this player being able to play in the final match against Thailand", Thairath added. The first leg of the AFF Cup 2024 final between Vietnam and Thailand will take place at 8:00 p.m. on January 2 at Viet Tri Stadium. The second leg of the final will take place at 8:00 p.m. on January 5 at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
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