Seeing Thailand's disastrous defeat to Japan, I feel worried about the Vietnamese team.

" Let's cheer hard, the first half of the first half, the score between Japan and Thailand was 0-0 ", the head of the Thai team - Ms. Nualphan Lamsam wrote on her personal page. However, the businesswoman's joy was soon extinguished when the Golden Temple team was defeated 0-5 by the Japanese team, receiving 5 goals in just 45 minutes.

The Thai team lost the match but Vietnamese fans are still worried. Japan is the first opponent of the Vietnamese team in the Asian Cup.

A warning for the Vietnam team

Thailand's defeat is a reminder for the Vietnamese team. It must be frankly admitted that if they do not focus and make every effort, the Vietnamese team could also suffer a similar defeat. A disastrous defeat on the opening day is certainly not the scenario that Coach Troussier wanted, but avoiding such a result is not easy.

The Thai team lost heavily to the Japanese team.

The strengths of the Vietnamese team are the same as those of the Thai team, if not better. They have a coach from Japan, many quality players and stable performance in the squad. When the Japanese team accelerated with the best quality players, the Thai team could only endure the match and continuously conceded goals.

Fans can point to the 1-1 draw in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers to show the chances of the Vietnamese team. However, the draw was misleading to those who did not watch the match. In the match, Japan played sparingly and fired... 24 shots, 8 of which were on target, and conceding only one goal that day was a huge stroke of luck for the Vietnamese team, plus the brilliance of goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh.

That was when the Vietnamese team was still at its peak under coach Park Hang Seo. Now, the situation is very different. It is no longer a formality and Japan has become much stronger. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team itself is not in its best condition.

In the last 5 matches, including the friendly series, the Vietnamese team lost 4 matches. The only victory came from the away match against the Philippines team. Of course, this is not a suitable measure of the strength of the Vietnamese team.

When facing teams of the same level or similar to the Japanese team, the Vietnamese team is completely stuck and can only rely on a few individual plays. Looking at the friendly match with the Korean team, Quang Hai and his teammates also fell into the same situation as the Thai team.

Psychological and performance barriers

Technically, the Vietnamese team has not done well, but that is normal when the players need a lot of time to adapt to more complex tactics and a way of playing that is completely opposite to what they have been familiar with in the past 5 years.

As mentioned above, due to many failures in a short period of time, the Vietnamese team is under a lot of pressure. Many times, players enter the field with "lead-like" legs. This significantly affects the ability of the stars to play on the field.

Players considered to be the pillars of the Vietnamese team such as Nguyen Thanh Binh and Bui Hoang Viet Anh still made mistakes. If the striker of the Philippine team had made better use of the "gift" that Thanh Binh gave him in extra time, this central defender would have regretted his loss of the ball.

Meanwhile, Pham Tuan Hai is in good form at the club level but has also missed 2-3 dangerous chances in front of the opponent's goal. Nguyen Tien Linh has only recently regained his form at the club. Cong Phuong has not even been called up.

Even Nguyen Hoang Duc has faced many difficulties under the reign of Coach Troussier. The midfielder born in 1998 has not won a starting position, has not played a single minute in the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup. Fans wonder why Hoang Duc has to sit on the bench so much.

Coach Troussier is responsible for the achievements of the Vietnamese team and he has the right to arrange personnel as he wishes to serve his tactical calculations.

However, if they fall into the scenario of losing heavily and worse, losing all matches in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup, difficulties will surround the Vietnamese team even more.

Mai Phuong

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