South Korea were the strongest opponents for the Vietnamese team in the first friendly matches under coach Philippe Troussier. Facing the team ranked 26th in the FIFA rankings is a good opportunity for the players to learn and at the same time see their shortcomings.
The strength of the Korean team
The South Korean team was led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann. The German coach had a bad start with 5 consecutive matches without a win. However, it should be noted that the South Korean team's opponents at that time were mostly teams of equal or stronger strength, except for El Salvador, ranked 76th in the world.
Coach Klinsmann temporarily eased public tension with two recent victories. The Korean team defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 and won 4-0 against Tunisia a few days ago.
The Korean team is on a different level than the Vietnamese team.
On the FIFA rankings, the Korean team is ranked 26th, 69 places higher than the Vietnamese team. The difference in level between the two teams is too obvious.
Son Heung-min is the biggest star of the Korean national team as well as Asian football at the moment. The Tottenham striker is in very good form with 6 goals in the Premier League this season. Lee Kang-in (PSG), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) or Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) are also big names. However, Kim Min-jae is showing signs of overload and Son Heung-min has not fully recovered from injury and is not sure to play.
Coach Klinsmann has named a list of 24 players. Only 10 of them play for domestic clubs and most of them play in defense. The stars in the midfield and attack all play in Europe.
The Korean team is also experimenting with personnel and tactics. Coach Klinsmann prefers a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation, with Son Heung-min playing freely alongside striker Cho Gue-sung. The problem that Coach Klinsmann is trying to solve is how to integrate both Hwang Hee-chan and Lee Kang-in into the attack to make the most of the Korean team's stars.
Vietnam team performance
Facing a very strong opponent, the Vietnamese team was not in the best condition. The performance of coach Philippe Troussier and his team made fans worried.
The Vietnamese team is not in good form. (Photo: VFF)
Under the new French coach, the Vietnamese team won three consecutive matches against Hong Kong (China), Syria and Palestine. However, when the difficulty increased against higher-level opponents such as China and Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese team suffered two defeats with a score of 0-2 and poor performances.
The Vietnamese team revealed more clearly the problems in defense and attack coordination when facing strong opponents. The players can control the ball, but they have not clearly defined the direction to handle when they have the ball. On the other hand, the Vietnamese team's defense also has problems. These are the weaknesses that Coach Troussier wants his students to overcome.
The Vietnamese team entered this match without their best squad. Coach Troussier called up many young players for this training session. The core squad of the Vietnamese team also suffered losses after two friendly matches with China and Uzbekistan. Nguyen Quang Hai and Que Ngoc Hai were injured, while Nguyen Tien Linh was banned from playing due to a red card.
Expected lineup Korea vs Vietnam
Korea: Kim Seung Gyu; Seol Young-woo, Jung Seung-hyun, Kim Min-jae, Lee Ki-je, Lee Jae-sung, Park Yong-woo, Hong Hyun-seok, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min
Vietnam: Van Lam; Duy Manh, Viet Anh, Tuan Tai; Viet Hung, Tuan Anh, Hung Dung, Tien Anh; Tuan Hai, Hoang Duc, Van Toan.
Prediction: Korea 3-0 Vietnam
Van Hai
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