When will we have a victory over Thailand at My Dinh Stadium?

Over the past two decades, Thailand has not always been strong, but overcoming them at home has never been easy for Vietnamese players. Although up to now, 2 out of 3 reasons that often make us disadvantaged when facing Thailand: competitive mentality, physical strength and individual excellence have been overcome.

Closing the gap

In the past two years, after Mr. Park appeared, we have won against Thailand at all team levels, which has greatly improved the players' competitive mentality. Even in yesterday's match, for the first time, we were ranked as the favorites by experts. The physical strength of Vietnamese players has also improved significantly, and near the end of the match, the players can still play with all their might.

Mr. Park is unbeaten after 5 matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Photo: Chungsuek

In attack, Tien Linh can shine in the UAE match and then disappear at My Dinh Stadium. Van Toan can be a star in V.League but on the national team he only leaves regretful plays. Quang Hai is a classy player, but when being closely followed by Thai players, his "singing voice suddenly stops midway". In fact, in the match against Thailand, we still have goalkeeper Van Lam and defender Van Hau playing impressively, but that only ensures not losing rather than winning.

First of all, it must be said that Thailand always has an abundant force of players. In 5 matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, head coach A. Nishino used 21 players. In yesterday's match, he changed 3 out of 4 defenders present at Bukit Jalil Stadium (Kuala Lumpur). The abundant force did not cause Thailand much difficulty.

The class of the two commanders

Usually, coaches rarely put 3 players with similar playing styles, technical skills, and left-footed players on the field at the same time. Simply, they easily "step on each other's toes" in attacking phases, and lack iron in defense. But this time, Mr. A. Nishino played "judo" because he knew that the opposite side, Tuan Anh, was also a technical player.

Both coaches played pressing but it was clear that Thailand's forward players like T. Dangda and C. Songkrasin had more experience and tricks, so Thailand's game was better. This was a match where the away team had 61% possession, had 8 shots on goal (Vietnam had 0) and missed 1 penalty.

Remember, in the previous match against UAE, we had 54% possession and had technical parameters on par with the top teams in the continent. Obviously, Mr. A. Nishino, his assistants and the Thai players understood us better and they had a better approach to the match than UAE. The fact that Thailand committed 18 fouls but only received 1 yellow card, while Vietnam committed only 15 fouls but received 3 yellow cards also shows the strangeness of the away players.

More time is needed

In football, when the Vietnamese players' strengths are concentrated in the match against the UAE, it will be very difficult to ask Tuan Anh and the players to continue to excel in the match 5 days later. Especially when Mr. Park Hang-seo does not have many strategic reserve cards, so he had to bring the entire squad against the UAE to the field to face the Thais.

When will we have a victory over Thailand at My Dinh Stadium? This is still a question that is not easy to answer. Photo: VF

Looking at Hong Duy and Cong Phuong entering the field, readers will surely agree that the above statement is correct. In fact, not being in the Sint Truidense squad for 10 consecutive matches has caused this player to no longer have the sharp moves he had before. This predicts that if there are no new players, Vietnam will have difficulty facing Thailand. In addition to striker S. Jaided, Thailand also has 17-year-old striker S. Mueanta, who was recently voted the best player in Southeast Asia in 2019.

Training abroad has helped these two players make visible progress, helping Vietnam have their 5th draw with Thailand (lost 17, lost 5). When will we have a victory over Thailand at My Dinh Stadium is still a question that is not easy to answer? We still need to give Mr. Park and his colleagues time.