AFF Cup 2018: Coach Park "started" better than his two most recent predecessors?

Many fans expressed their love for coach Park Hang-seo. Photo: Trung Kien

The first index to compare the performance of the Vietnam National Team in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2018 with the performance of the Vietnam National Team in the group stage of the tournament 2 years ago is the score.

At the end of the 2016 AFF Cup group stage, coach Nguyen Huu Thang and his team won 9/9 maximum points (winning 2-1 against Myanmar, 1-0 against Malaysia and 4-1 against Cambodia). Meanwhile, at the end of the 2018 AFF Cup group stage, coach Park Hang-seo and his team won 10 points (winning 3-0 against Laos, 2-0 against Malaysia, drawing 0-0 against Myanmar and 3-0 against Cambodia).

Despite having more points, the current performance of the Vietnam National Team is not as impressive as that of Nguyen Van Quyet and his teammates at the AFF Cup 2016. In all 3 matches in the group stage, the team led by coach Nguyen Huu Thang won all 3, with 9 absolute points. Thus, the winning rate of the Vietnam National Team at the AFF Cup 2016 is 100%.

Obviously with 3 wins and 1 draw, coach Park Hang-seo and his team only have a winning rate of 75%, worse than the home team's performance in the tournament 2 years ago.

Mr. Park's students had excellent performances at this year's tournament. Photo: Trung Kien

However, compared to the Vietnam Team's record of 2 wins and 1 draw at the AFF Cup 2014, the current Vietnam Team's record is somewhat better, at least in terms of average points.

At the AFF Cup 4 years ago, Coach Miura and his team won 7 points after 3 matches (drawn 2-2 with Indonesia, won 3-0 with Laos and won 3-1 with the Philippines), the average score was 2.3 points/match. With 10 points just won after 4 matches, the average score of Coach Park Hang-seo and his team is 2.5 points/match.

Not only that, the number of goals scored by Coach Park Hang-seo's students in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2018 is not more impressive than the scoring record of the Vietnam National Team in the previous 2 AFF Cups. At the end of the group stage, Van Quyet and his teammates only scored a total of 8 goals against their opponents. This achievement is equal to the achievement of the Vietnam National Team under Coach Miura in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2014 (both 8 goals) and 1 goal more than the achievement of the Vietnam National Team in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2016 under Coach Nguyen Huu Thang. Remember that in the previous 2 AFF Cups, the Vietnam National Team only played 3 matches in the group stage.

But there is still one index that coach Park Hang-seo's team is better than the teams of his two predecessors, which is the number of goals conceded. In the group stage of AFF Cup 2014 and 2016, the Vietnam team conceded 3 and 2 goals respectively, but in the group stage of AFF Cup this year, goalkeeper Dang Van Lam did not have to pick the ball out of the net once.

This is an extremely impressive achievement for Coach Park Hang-seo and his team. It must be admitted that the current defensive system is considered the most solid ever of the Vietnam National Team.

Through what has just been mentioned, it can be seen that the achievements in the AFF Cup group stage of the Vietnam National Team are only equivalent to the achievements of the Vietnam National Team under Coach Miura and Coach Nguyen Huu Thang./.