Thailand is at a standstill, Tien Linh - Xuan Son close in on the AFF Cup top scorer title

(Dan Tri) - Thailand's most dangerous strikers all "failed to score" in the first leg of the semi-final against the Philippines on the evening of December 27. This means that Tien Linh and Xuan Son are very close to the Golden Boot.

The current top scorer of the AFF Cup 2024 is Singapore's Shawal Anuar, with 4 goals. However, the possibility of Shawal Anuar scoring more goals in this year's tournament is not high.

Tien Linh has 3 goals at AFF Cup 2024 (Photo: Tuan Bao).

The Singapore team has to play away against the Vietnam team in the second leg of the semi-final at Viet Tri Stadium ( Phu Tho ), the possibility of Shawal Anuar scoring against the Vietnam team in the second leg is quite low. At the same time, Singapore is now unlikely to pass the semi-final round.

The Thai team is different, the Golden Temple team is still at risk of being eliminated after losing 1-2 to the Philippines in the first leg of the semi-final at Rizal Memorial Stadium (Manila) yesterday (December 27).

However, Thailand still has the second leg of the semi-final at home at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. The chance for coach Masatada Ishii's team to come back and win the Philippines is not small.

Thailand striker Patrik Gustavsson also scored 3 goals (Photo: FAT).

However, Thailand's top three strikers, Patrik Gustavsson, Suphanat Mueanta and Teerasak Poeiphimai, failed to score in the first leg of the semi-final last night in the Philippines. This was the second consecutive match in which the trio failed to score.

That makes them currently only equal to the "twin" pair Tien Linh and Xuan Son on the Vietnamese team in terms of goals, with each having 3 goals.

The race for the title of top scorer of the AFF Cup 2024 will most likely be between the 5 strikers mentioned above: Patrik Gustavsson, Suphanat Mueanta, Teerasak Poeiphimai of Thailand, and Tien Linh and Xuan Son of the Vietnamese team. These 5 are currently tied for second place.

Nguyen Xuan Son has the same number of goals as Tien Linh and the strikers of the Thai team (Photo: Thanh Dong).

When a team reaches the AFF Cup final, its players will play two more matches (first and second leg) than the losing teams in the semi-finals. Therefore, if the team reaches the final, the chances of the strikers increasing their goal tally will be higher.

In this regard, the Vietnamese and Thai teams have the advantage, because up to now, the opportunity for the current champion and the current runner-up of the AFF Cup to meet again in the final match of this year's tournament is very high.

That also means that the race for the Golden Boot title will be a direct race between the top strikers of the Vietnamese team, including Tien Linh and Xuan Son, and the top strikers of the Thai team.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/thai-lan-be-tac-tien-linh-xuan-son-ap-sat-ngoi-vua-pha-luoi-aff-cup-20241228153342867.htm