How will the Vietnamese team play against Syria?

(Baonghean.vn) - In comparison, the Syrian national team is on par with Iraq, the opponent who recently defeated the Vietnamese national team 0-1 in Iran. In the last 8 matches, Syria won 6 and lost only 2, all against rival Japan. Therefore, although playing at home, it is predicted that Coach Huu Thang and his students will face many difficulties.

Good reagent

It must be affirmed that once Syria is among the 12 teams that have entered the final qualifying round of the 2018 World Cup in Asia, they are much stronger than Vietnam. Although in the past, in the 2009 Asian Cup, we also had a 0-0 draw, then lost narrowly 0-1 to this opponent.

Most notable in the squad of new head coach Ayman Alhakim is the experienced goalkeeper Mosab Balhous, who has played 100 times for the Syrian national team. With his outstanding height and ability to enter and exit properly, Mosab Balhous always dominates the 16.5m area, initiating counter-attacking play with his accurate goal kicks. The Syrian midfield has a name that Italian audiences will always remember, that is Abdulrazak Al Husein, the player who fired a cannon into the goal of the Italian U20 team, bringing Syria an important 2-1 victory over Italy at the 2005 U20 World Cup.

The Syrian team has many tall and big players.

Bringing 4 strikers to Vietnam, the duo Ahmad Al Douni, who is playing for Al-Riffa Club of Bahrain, and Abdul Fattah Al Agha - the top scorer of Naruh Cup 2009, currently playing for Baghdad FC (Iraq) are almost certain to start. A high-class reserve is striker Sanharib Malki Sabah, who is playing for Kasimpasa (Türkiye), with the speed of an F1 racing car. It is a bit strange that Syria brought almost the strongest squad but only had exactly 4 defenders, the shortest one is Alaa Al Shbli, only 1m tall, the remaining names are Omar Midani, 1m78 tall, Ahmad Al Salih, 1m83 tall, Jehad Al Baour, 1m86 tall, showing that Cong Vinh and Cong Phuong will have difficulty in aerial combat.

The head coach of the Syrian national team shared: “The friendly matches in Vietnam and Thailand will be very important for us because this is the time for the coaching staff to review the squad to prepare for the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifying matches in Asia. The results of these matches are not too important, but the coaching staff requires the players to perform well.” With such a modest goal and a fairly simple playing style, side kicks, wing crosses and headers at high speed, it does not mean that the Vietnamese team will easily score points.

Measure your coat according to your cloth

Fans are quite interested in the trio of horse-cannon-car: Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Tuan Anh after their time training abroad. According to our observations, only Cong Phuong has maintained his good physical condition, while Xuan Truong suffered an injury during his final time at Incheon United.

In addition to Hoang Thinh and Xuan Truong, the two serious injuries of Vu Ngoc Thinh and Le Van Thang had to run separately on the field and could not participate in the team's training sessions. Almost certainly, the three players Xuan Truong, Ngoc Thinh and Van Thang will be absent against Syria. In defense, there will not be many changes, except for the swap of Dinh Dong for Dinh Hoang. With Syria playing close, the Vietnamese team really needs Que Ngoc Hai's long passes. Unlike the previous training session, with the appearance of Cong Phuong, the question that football experts and fans are extremely interested in is: How will coach Huu Thang use Cong Vinh and Cong Phuong?

Coach Huu Thang and his team are ready for the "test of fire" match with Syria - Photo: Duc Cuong

If we still use the familiar 4-1-4-1 formation with Huy Hung replacing Hoang Thinh. Remember, this is only the first time Huy Hung has been called back to the team under Huu Thang, but before that, he was a "hero" of coach Toshiya Miura in the U23 and national teams. Obviously, Cong Phuong will have difficulty competing for Cong Vinh's striker position because he is not experienced enough, does not have many passes, passes, and dribbles like his hometown senior.

In midfield, Cong Phuong is not strong enough to be deployed on the wing like Van Toan or Luong "di". Coach Guillaume Graechen commented on his student: "Cong Phuong is a free striker, playing right behind the strikers to take advantage of his intelligence, combined with his skillful dribbling. Cong Phuong really needs space to move, so coaches should give him a "stage"".

Therefore, everyone believes that coach Huu Thang will have to change the tactical diagram so that Cong Phuong can develop his strengths. It is very likely that during the competition, the Vietnam National Team will switch to playing with a 4-3-3 diagram, or 4-4-1-1 so that fans can witness the pair of strikers, one old and one young, complementing each other. If Cong Vinh is experienced in racing, Cong Phuong is especially cunning in 1-on-1 situations or sneaking down after his teammates' through balls.

N@T