Expert: "Vietnam team must control the ball against Thailand"
Việt Nam•02/01/2025
(Dan Tri) - Former VFF Vice President Duong Vu Lam assessed that Thailand is very different from the opponents that the Vietnamese team has faced in the AFF Cup 2024. However, we still have a chance to win.
*The first leg of the 2024 AFF Cup final between Vietnam and Thailand will take place at 8:00 p.m. tonight (January 2), at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho). Dan Tri will report this match live.
The Vietnamese team is about to face the final obstacle, which is also the most formidable obstacle on the journey to conquer the AFF Cup 2024 championship. That obstacle is Thailand, the most successful team in this tournament with 7 championships. According to former VFF Vice President Duong Vu Lam, the strongest point of Thai players compared to other teams in Southeast Asia is their professionalism and "weirdness" in playing style. The weak point of the Golden Temple team in this year's tournament is the defense. Before the final match, Mr. Lam spoke with Dan Tri reporter.
Opponents are of a different nature.
How do you rate the Thai team before this team plays the final match of the AFF Cup 2024 against the Vietnamese team? - The match against Thailand is definitely a very difficult match for the Vietnamese team. This is a completely different opponent from the opponents we have faced since the beginning of the AFF Cup 2024 until now. Thai players have been professionally and systematically trained since childhood. The Vietnamese team is full of determination before the final match (Photo: Thanh Dong). Then, when they grew up, they boldly went abroad to compete, and they played in the Japanese professional football league, so the confidence and expertise of Thai players are very high. That is the reason why we see that Thailand has now transferred its forces, no longer using famous but old players like Chanathip Songkrasin or Teerasil Dangda, but the expertise of this team has not changed. Also thanks to playing in high-quality tournaments, like the Japanese professional league, in addition to technical factors and tactical thinking, Thai players are also very strange, with many tricks. What exactly is the "strangeness" of Thai players, sir? - Let's look at players like Chanathip Songkrasin or Theerathon Bunmathan in the past. They are typical examples of the technical quality as well as the strangeness of Thai players. These players have many tricks that make their opponents annoyed and easily get angry. They can provoke their opponents, but not go beyond the framework of football rules, so that they do not get a penalty card, but can make their opponents lose their composure. And then, if the opponents lose control and retaliate, they will be trapped by the Thai players, before the opponents face the risk of losing a player. Thai players are very strange (Photo: FAT). At this year's AFF Cup, from the midfield up, Thailand has players of this type. In particular, Thailand's midfield from the semi-finals onwards has been supplemented with a number of players returning from Japan (Supachok Sarachat, Ekanit Panya). Therefore, Thailand's midfield is very strong.
Thailand's Weaknesses
So does the Thai team have any weaknesses in this year's tournament? - Their defense is not as strong as their midfield and forward lines. Thailand conceded a lot of goals at the 2024 AFF Cup (a total of 7 goals, up to the final match). Thailand's defenders are not quick to maneuver in a narrow area. In addition, as mentioned, Thailand's defense at the 2024 AFF Cup lacks a player who is both skilled and cunning like Theerathon Bunmathan. If this player appears at the AFF Cup, I'm afraid that the strikers of the Vietnamese team, including Nguyen Xuan Son, will easily fall into his provocative trap. Thailand's defense with its inflexible ability to turn around and poor coverage is exactly the point that Vietnamese players can exploit, if we play fast enough to force this defense to not keep their distance. To play fast and force Thailand's defense to make mistakes, what should the Vietnamese team do, sir? - The key in the match against Thailand in the AFF Cup final is that the Vietnamese midfield must control the ball. If our midfield cannot control the ball, even Xuan Son up front will be isolated from the rest of the team. The Vietnamese team has a chance to win the AFF Cup championship, starting the new year smoothly (Photo: Do Minh Quan). We saw this for most of the first leg of the semi-final between Vietnam and Singapore. At that time, our midfield did not control the ball well, forcing us to play long balls up front for Xuan Son to use his physical strength to sweep past the Singaporean central defenders. In that same match, we saw how Singapore's tall central defenders locked down Xuan Son. Thailand also has very tall, strong central defenders, they will be able to do the same thing as Singapore did in the first leg of the semi-final against Vietnam, if we cannot control the ball in the midfield and are forced to play long balls. On the other hand, if Vietnam loses its midfield, our defense will also be under great pressure from Thailand. As I said, Thailand has very good midfielders. Once they keep the ball at their feet long enough, and coordinate with each other, they will "tear apart" the opponent's defense.
Ball control, midfield control will be the key to victory
To secure the midfield, what kind of players do the Vietnamese team need? - Quang Hai and Hoang Duc will certainly play a very important role in controlling the ball and regulating the play for the Vietnamese team. They are the players with the best technique and the most experience in the Vietnamese team's midfield. The midfielders of the Vietnamese team must keep the ball well (Photo: Tuan Bao). In this year's tournament, Hoang Duc did a good job of distributing the ball from the midfield. Hoang Duc has a big advantage in terms of physique (1m84), so he has the ability to shield the ball well, before using his technique to get past people and pass the ball up front. In the final match, I think Hoang Duc will still play this role for the Vietnamese team. He will both compete and support defense from a distance, and support the attack whenever there is an opportunity. Are there any other points to note before the final match with Thailand, sir? - The problems I mentioned about the defense of the Thai team are also problems with the defense of the Vietnamese team. Our defense in this year's tournament is not strong. In addition to weak coverage, we have the additional weakness of not being good at one-on-one competition and not being good at defending high balls, stemming from the poor physique of the defenders. High balls are the point that Thailand will probably focus on exploiting against the Vietnamese team. Furthermore, in the final match, I do not know how well the full-backs of the Vietnamese team have recovered. They were injured in the second leg of the semi-final against Singapore. If they do not recover in time, we will face even more difficulties. Are there any measures to improve the quality of the Vietnamese team's defense? - Actually, the Vietnamese team still has a very high-quality player in the defense, that is goalkeeper Nguyen Filip. In terms of class, this goalkeeper used to play in Europe, so the pressure in Southeast Asian tournaments is almost no problem for Nguyen Filip. Nguyen Filip is very good at playing the ball with his feet, so he can almost cover the 16m50 area of the home team, and can also be the one to initiate attacks from the home field of the Vietnamese team. In addition, Nguyen Filip plays the ball much better than the other goalkeepers of the Vietnamese team, so this is also a plan for us to prevent the ball from the field in the final match. The Vietnamese team needs to remove psychological pressure when facing Thailand (Photo: Manh Quan). However, it is possible that, as Coach Kim Sang Sik said, he did not use Nguyen Filip in the recent matches because the communication between Nguyen Filip and the defenders was not good, stemming from the language barrier. But it is also possible that this is a trick of the Korean coach, always keeping Nguyen Filip focused and always striving to find an official position. This, the coaches who directly control the team will know best and who knows, maybe in the final match, Mr. Kim will use Nguyen Filip. Thank you for the exchange!
Former Vietnam national team coach Phan Thanh Hung: "Thailand has a different level than other teams" Coach Phan Thanh Hung commented on the Thai team before the final match with Dan Tri reporter: "Compared to other opponents at the AFF Cup 2024, Thailand has a higher level. Their force is more even". "In my opinion, in the final match against Thailand, the best attacking players of the Vietnamese team such as Xuan Son, Tien Linh, Hoang Duc, Quang Hai will likely be in the starting lineup. No striker in the Vietnamese team has played with Xuan Son as well as Tien Linh. When these two players are on the field at the same time, they support each other very well. They are good at finishing, know how to take advantage of opportunities, know how to pass the ball to the other player to score. At the same time, they also know how to move to receive the ball in a favorable position to score, or to attract opposing defenders", coach Phan Thanh Hung added.
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