AFF Suzuki Cup 2016: Identifying Vietnam's opponents

(Baonghean.vn) -The 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup took place without many surprises. In Group A, Thailand won 4-2 against Indonesia and emerged as a candidate for the championship, while the host Philippines was held to a 0-0 draw by Singapore despite having one more player. In Group B, Vietnam defeated host Myanmar 2-1, while Malaysia beat Cambodia 3-2 in a close game.

On Fox Sports Asia, after watching the first round of matches, Radojko Avramovic, former coach of the Myanmar team, said that both Vietnam and Thailand will qualify for the semi-finals as group winners. As the former head coach of Singapore, who won the AFF Cup in 2004, 2007 and 2012, Avramovic is quite knowledgeable about regional football, so his comments are of interest to experts.

Unlike Avramovic, we think that despite losing 2-4, coach Alfred Riedl's team is still rated higher than Singapore and the Philippines. Perhaps, the Indonesian players were too excited and wanted to finish Thailand off after 2 consecutive equalizers in the 54th minute (Erwin Solossa) and 56th minute (Eliandry Baru), so they lost. Speaking after the match, coach Kiatisak admitted that Thailand was luckier against Indonesia. He said: "The first match is always difficult and Indonesia played their best today, you can see they wanted 3 points in this match."

Thailand (blue) is the strongest candidate for the championship.

I still think Indonesia with 2 strikers Irfan and Boas will be Nguyen Manh's opponent in the semi-finals, not the host Philippines or Singapore, with the leadership of Coach Dooley. We think that the top spot in Group A is in Kiatisuk's hands and with his experience, Alfred Riedl will squeeze through the narrow door to get the remaining ticket.

The fact that Vietnam won 2-1 against the inexperienced host Myanmar was predictable. I also don't think that Huu Thang needs to win beautifully and win big in the first match. To win the AFF Cup, the team needs 5 matches, if the points fall in the first match, I don't know what will happen? Except for Van Thanh, the remaining 3 defenders all need to improve their ability to mark people in the area, but that is not too worrying.

What surprised everyone was that coach Kim Taehoon had inspired the young Cambodian players to play confidently against Malaysia. In the 4-4-2 formation, midfielder Chan Vathanaka was the player that Huu Thang paid the most attention to. He scored 8 goals, including a hat-trick against Binh Duong in the Mekong Cup, which Trong Hoang, Cong Vinh, and Au Van Hoan will surely remember forever.

Obviously, the names in the Malaysian squad such as Syazwan Zainon, Yahyah Amri and the top scorer of the 2010 AFF Cup Safee Sali make Huu Thang pay attention in the next match. Surely, coach Kim Swee knows the danger of Xuan Truong and the central midfielder pair Rizal Ghazali, Syazwan Zainon will take better care of this player from Tuyen Quang.

The Vietnamese team is rated higher and has a better chance than its opponent because if they draw, the door to the next round will be wide open, so the team's coaching staff will certainly have the necessary calculations. But I also believe that, although Huu Thang has a bit of difficulty in the first match, Vietnam will win all 3 matches, leading Group B. The Malaysian team will compete for the remaining ticket with host Myanmar in a fierce, even violent match.

According to FourFourTwo, if nothing changes, Thailand will meet Vietnam in the final. The best striker in Southeast Asia of the Golden Temple team, Teerasil Dangda, and the "veteran" Cong Vinh will have the opportunity to compete. People are waiting for what card Huu Thang will use when coach Kiatisuk directs central midfielder Pokklaw A-nan and Sarach Yooyen in a 4-2-3-1 formation to "kill" the explosive Xuan Truong. The champion team will be the team with a surprise backup plan, not what they showed in the group stage. Therefore, the Vietnamese team may not have shown much in the first match, but there is no need to worry too much!

An Thanh