Backup left-back solution for Vietnam national team

Difficult problem of Vietnam team

With what has happened in the past 3 matches of the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup 2024, Nguyen Van Vi is now coach Kim Sang-sik's number 1 choice for the left-back position. The player currently playing for Nam Dinh Football Club is fast, strong, good at crossing the ball, and plays calmly even when under great pressure from opponents.

Meanwhile, composure is a factor that another left-back of the Vietnamese team in this year's tournament, Khuat Van Khang, lacks. Khuat Van Khang is shown to be too weak every time he is assigned to play in the left-back position. In addition to lacking the skills of a defender (disputing, poor sense of space, often missing offside), Khuat Van Khang often loses his composure when the opponent puts pressure on him.

Khuat Van Khang is an attacking player so he still has many shortcomings in defense.

This is a very dangerous detail for the defense of the Vietnamese team. Because, when a defender is not calm, he cannot keep the entire defense system safe. Mistakes like passing the ball straight to the opponent's feet, leading to the loss of the Vietnamese team in the match against the Philippines, are not the first mistakes Khuat Van Khang has made when playing in the left-back position, from the time of coach Philippe Troussier until now.

Therefore, the Vietnamese team needs another option, a backup option for the left-back position, other than Khuat Van Khang. In fact, coach Kim Sang-sik still has players who can play in the left-back position when needed, namely Vu Van Thanh and Pham Xuan Manh.

The two players mentioned above are good at playing right-back, but when needed, they can also play as left-back. During their professional careers, Vu Van Thanh and Pham Xuan Manh have been assigned to play as left-back quite a few times.

Perhaps when playing on the left wing, Vu Van Thanh and Pham Xuan Manh cannot participate in the attack as smoothly as when playing as right-back. But at least, they still have the mindset of a defender, which is to limit sideways passes, limit sudden passes back, causing teammates around them to be "corrected" and not have time to react. The safe mindset of a defender does not appear in Khuat Van Khang, causing many times this player simply thinks that passing the ball into the home team's penalty area is as easy as passing the ball into the opponent's penalty area.

Van Thanh has experience playing on the opposite wing.

It is important to know that the next stage of the tournament is the stage where the Vietnamese team will have almost no chance to correct their mistakes if we make more mistakes. Therefore, for defenders, they need to play safely first, avoid conceding goals for their team, and then consider developing their attacking abilities.

However, the positive point when some weaknesses of the Vietnamese team appeared in the past matches is that we still have the opportunity to correct them. Another positive point is that when there is a weak position in the squad, we still have other personnel to replace, helping the Vietnamese team aim for a better version of itself in the most important stage of the AFF Cup 2024.

Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 is broadcast live and in full on FPT Play, at: http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/giai-phap-hau-ve-trai-du-phong-cho-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-185241220190958701.htm