AFF Cup 2018: Who are Vietnam's real rivals?

Yesterday in South Korea, coach Park Hang-seo raised a question with journalists, essentially asking why Vietnamese fans only care about Thailand. He expressed surprise that fans considered the 2018 AFF Cup championship already ours, knowing that Thailand couldn't field their best players for the tournament.

Coach Park countered the reporters accompanying the team with a question: "What about opponents like Malaysia or Indonesia? What basis do you have to claim that Vietnam will soon secure a place in the semi-finals of the 2018 AFF Cup?"

No one could answer him this question.

It's just a "miracle" so far.

There are two things we need to emphasize. Firstly, it has been a very long time since Thailand has been a team hindering the progress of Vietnamese football. For over 10 years, from the 2007 AFF Cup semi-final to the present, Thailand has only directly blocked our progress once, and that was at the 2017 SEA Games.

Mr. Park said: “What about opponents like Malaysia or Indonesia? What basis is there to claim that Vietnam will soon secure a place in the semi-finals of the 2018 AFF Cup?” (Image: Internet)

Over the past decade, in the SEA Games and AFF Cup, Vietnamese football has been eliminated by Indonesia (3 times), Malaysia (4 times), and Myanmar/Philippines (1 time each). Thus, out of 10 defeats, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines have only been named winners once.

Furthermore, success at the youth level does not automatically equate to success at the national team level. This is not unique to Vietnamese football, but also applies to other countries. At the senior national team level, the 2018 AFF Cup was merely the first test for the South Korean coach.

Moreover, even at the youth level, the Vietnam U23 team has achieved many resounding successes, but we have yet to face the top teams in Southeast Asia. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and the Vietnam U19 players created a World Cup miracle two years ago, but were recently eliminated early in the Asian Championship. Coach Vu Hong Viet and his team also had a forgettable journey at the Southeast Asian U16 Championship and the Asian U16 Championship.

The achievements are real, but they are merely "miracles" rather than a sign that the level of Vietnamese youth football has been raised to a high level of stability, with repeated successes. Meanwhile, young Malaysian players like Safawi Rasid and Akhyar Rashid are equally impressive, having advanced through the group stage of the U23 Asian Championship and defeated South Korea at the Asian Games…

Ultimately, we don't yet have the same level of development to compare the progress of our young players with those in the region.

The pressure is immense.

The achievements of the Vietnam U23 and Olympic teams under coach Park Hang-seo are thanks to a generation of exceptionally talented players like Cong Phuong, Van Duc, Quang Hai… a skilled coach, and, of course, a certain amount of luck.

The Malaysian national team, with young stars like Safawi Rasid and Akhyar Rashid, is the first challenge. Photo: Internet

To put it bluntly, Vietnamese football, up to this point, is still considered one of the "lower-lying areas in Southeast Asia," as Coach Park Hang-seo's team has yet to directly compete against rivals in the region.

The progress of the Vietnamese U23 and Olympic players is commendable, and confidence is high, but to achieve "hundred victories in a hundred battles," one must first "know the enemy." The AFF Cup ball hasn't even started rolling yet, and somewhat subjective assessments of the team's performance will only increase the pressure on coach Park Hang-seo and his players.

In our opinion, Vietnam's real opponent isn't Malaysia or Thailand, but rather the expectations that weigh heavily on the shoulders of the coaching staff and the players. To win, they must overcome that – our main rival!