AFF Cup 2018: The battle of wits between the coaches

The biggest surprise was probably in the 89th minute, the Football FederationThe Philippines announced that Mr. Sven Goran Eriksson will become the leader of the Philippine National Team to participate in the AFF Cup 2018 and Asian Cup 2019. Surely, this is the "hottest" name at the AFF Cup 2018 because of the Swedish strategist's popularity with Southeast Asian fans.

And certainly the price for this man born in Sunne and raised in Torsby, Värmland to be the coach of the Philippines national team is not cheap. But how to convince the first foreign coach to take the hot seat of the England team is not easy.

Eriksson - Coach of the Philippines National Team. Photo: Internet

In 5 years and 67 matches leading the “Three Lions”, the Swedish strategist had 40 wins and 10 losses. His best achievement was helping the England team reach the quarter-finals at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

In 2007, he became manager of Manchester City and the club made an impressive start, climbing to the top of the Premier League. Eriksson's journey in the Premier League ended just a few months later. In January 2018, the "Blue Devils" dropped to 7th place after only winning one of their last 5 matches and were sacked by Man City's Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra in the spring of 2008.

Eriksson then became the head coach of the Mexico national team, but was fired nearly a year later. He went on to become a director at the English club Notts County, but soon resigned due to the club's large debts. From 2010 to 2011, the former captain of the "Three Lions" also had short periods of time leading the Ivory Coast and Leicester City.

In June 2013, Eriksson first worked in Asia when he was appointed as coach of Guangzhou R&F, Shanghai SIPG, Shenzhen in China. Recently, Eriksson unexpectedly cooperated with the Philippine Football Federation to become the captain of "Azkal" participating in the AFF Cup 2018 and Asian Cup 2019.

Coach Milovan Rajevac of the Thai national team. Photo: Internet

Next, we cannot fail to mention Thailand coach Milovan Rajevac, who was the head coach of Ghana at the 2010 World Cup and is considered the one who helped bring some stars such as Keven Prince Boateng, Muntari, Inkooom, Andre Ayew,... to new heights. In fact, the "black stars"also only lost on penalties when before that, Luis Suarez had a handball that went down in World Cup history.

The head coach of the Cambodian national team is a player and coach. Somehow, the team has successfully convinced Keisuke Honda, a former AC Milan player and considered one of the most famous stars in Asia.

Keisuke Honda - "online" coach of the Cambodian national team. Photo: Internet

But until now, Keisuke Honda is still busy playing in...Australia for Melbourne Victory. Many training sessions of the Cambodian national team are directed by "head coach" Honda via the application...video call (phone call with image).

Keisuke Honda will even be absent from the AFF Cup in the two matches between Cambodia and Laos and Vietnam. His counterpart coach Felix Dalmas will be responsible for directing this match as well as training time when coach Keisuke Honda is absent.

Despite being under a lot of pressure, Coach Park Hang-seo is still full of confidence before the AFF Cup 2018. Photo: Internet

Of course, the coach who is receiving the most attention from the regional press and experts after recent achievements in the continental youth tournament is Coach Park Hang-seo of the Vietnam National Team, with a silver medal at the U23 Asian Cup as well as 4th place at the 18th Asiad.

In terms of personal reputation, Coach Park is far behind his other colleagues at the AFF Cup, but Vietnamese fans still highly appreciate the professional ability of the Korean coach.

Although this is the first time Mr. Park has led the Vietnamese national team to compete in an official regional tournament, so far, he has helped the U23 Vietnam and Olympic Vietnam players significantly improve their competitive mentality, physical strength and technical tactics.

We will have to wait and see who among the four names mentioned will lift the championship trophy with their students. But clearly, coach Rajevac of the Thai national team and Park Hang-seo of the Vietnamese national team have the advantage because they have more time to prepare.

Fans are waiting for the battle of wits between Mr. Rajevac and Park Hang-seo at the final of AFF Cup 2018.