ASEAN Cup final prediction: Vietnam narrowly wins over Thailand
Báo Tuổi Trẻ•02/01/2025
With home field advantage, Vietnam is considered by experts to be stronger than Thailand in the first leg of the 2024 ASEAN Cup final, taking place at 8:00 p.m. on January 2 at Viet Tri Stadium.
Vietnam is in better form than Thailand - Photo: HOANG TUNG
Vietnam is on a 7-match losing streak against Thailand, with 3 losses and 4 draws. The last time the two teams met was in a friendly match in September 2024, when Kim Sang Sik's team lost 1-2 to Thailand at home. Before that, Vietnam was at a disadvantage when facing Thailand in two consecutive ASEAN Cups 2020 (but taking place in 2021) and 2022. In the semi-finals of the 2021 tournament, Vietnam lost 0-2 in the first leg before drawing 0-0 in the second leg. Both matches took place at Singapore's Kallang Stadium. In 2022, Vietnam held Thailand to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the final at home, before losing 0-1 in the second leg. Thailand is not afraid of playing in Vietnam, having been unbeaten since 1998. In 24 encounters in the past 25 years, Vietnam won twice, and both were on the opponent's field. However, this time the situation is not simple for the Golden Temple team. They played the second leg of the semi-final one day after Vietnam, so they had less time to rest. Not only that, coach Masatada Ishii and his team also went through 120 minutes of intense fighting against the Philippines, while Vietnam had a leisurely match against Singapore. Vietnam also played two consecutive home matches, so they did not have to waste energy on traveling. Thailand's performance was also unconvincing . They did not play really better than the Philippines in both matches, and won narrowly in the end with a controversial goal. Thailand's attack lacked sharpness when experienced stars like Chanathip and Dangda were absent. On the contrary, Vietnam was full of enthusiasm with the presence of Nguyen Xuan Son . This naturalized striker scored in his first three matches for the team.
It is understandable that bookies ranked Vietnam as the stronger team in this match, with a handicap of 1/2 (0.5) for the whole match and 0.25 for the first half. The over/under ratio is 2.25 for the whole match and 1 for the first half. Although it is a fairly low number, it is not easy to achieve when 6/8 of the most recent confrontations between Vietnam and Thailand have had 2 goals or less. Expert choice: Vietnam handicaps 0.5 for the whole match: choose Vietnam. Vietnam handicaps 0.25 for the first half: choose Vietnam. Over/under 2.25 for the whole match: choose under. Over/under 1 for the first half: choose under. Prediction: Vietnam wins 1-0.
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