Can the Vietnamese team under coach Park Hang Seo overcome the Thailand obsession?
Reaching the top of the continent with the runner-up position, U23 Vietnam will be the core of the Vietnamese team participating in the AFF Cup later this year. Playing successfully in the Asian tournament, will the Vietnamese team still be afraid of Thailand when returning to the continental playground?
According to information from VFF, at the AFF Cup taking place at the end of this year, the Vietnamese team will be the number 1 seed of the tournament, along with the Thai team. This will be a huge advantage for the Vietnamese team, because when drawing lots, Coach Park Hang Seo and his team will not face strong opponents in the group stage, especially Thailand.
Coach Park Hang Seo is expected to help Vietnamese football surpass Thailand.
Many people are happy that the Vietnamese team is not in the same group as Thailand. However, to reach the final, or win the championship, Coach Park Hang Seo and his team will likely still face Thailand after passing the group stage.
The issue of meeting Thailand in regional competitions, including SEA Games or AFF Cup, is probably always determined by Coach Park Hang Seo and his students, sooner or later. Therefore, only with confidence and comfort to play fairly with the opponent, can the Vietnamese team hope to have a chance to win the championship.
But how to overcome Thailand, at least in terms of ideology? Perhaps the key to this difficult problem is the spirit and image of U23 Vietnam. In terms of class, Thai football is far behind Iraq and Qatar, which U23 Vietnam defeated in the recent U23 Asian Cup finals. And if the Vietnamese team with the core of U23 Vietnam players plays like in the last tournament, they will not be afraid of any opponent in the region.
But from the continental tournament to Southeast Asia is a different story, requiring the Vietnamese team to be more prepared, especially in terms of mentality. Coach Park Hang Seo himself identified the importance of this tournament to Vietnamese football, even Southeast Asian football, he shared: “It is a tournament held every two years, gathering the best players in Southeast Asia. Fans are eager to win. For Korea, the Asian Cup or Asian Games are more important, but the position of the AFF Cup in Southeast Asia is absolute”.
U23 Vietnam once defeated U23 Thailand at M-150 Cup
The AFF Cup 2018 is even more important than the Asian Games taking place in August this year. Simply because for VFF, U23 Vietnam may not set a target at the Asian Games, but the AFF Cup must aim for the championship.
The pressure is huge, and every opponent is determined to defeat the Vietnamese team, as an affirmation that they are not inferior after the recent historic achievement of coach Park Hang Seo and his team in the regional arena.
In particular, recently, the Thai Football Federation "ordered" the national team to win the AFF Cup, in the face of the strong rise of Vietnamese football.
Thus, the main opponent of the Vietnamese team is still Thailand in the regional arena. Even in this AFF Cup, the opponent of Mr. Park and his team is much stronger than before, for the above reasons.
Hopefully, after the success in the continental tournament, the Vietnamese team will overcome the Thai obsession, aiming for the best results in the AFF Cup, specifically the championship. With what has been done, coach Park Hang Seo is trusted by Vietnamese football fans to once again sing the song of victory.
