Vietnam team wins International Friendly Tournament: Little joy, much worry?

Even the Korean coach himself confirmed after his team won the championship that no one was sure of a place, the team would continue to look for additional players...

In the two friendly matches, Mr. Park Hang-seo used most of the players called up to test the new and old forces. In the match against Singapore, the young players were tested against an opponent of equal strength and they did not disappoint the strict coach.

Coming to the match against India, TeamVietnam teamWith the best and most familiar force being put on the field, it was quite surprising that Van Lam, Van Quyet, Van Toan… were not among them. However, the team played well, operated smoothly and achieved results beyond expectations. The 3 goals conceded by the away team were all due to individual errors, due to poor aerial combat when under pressure.

Coach Park Hang-seo in an interview after the match. Photo: Hai Hoang

Coach Park Hang-seo is completely right when he has not affirmed anything after the team's two consecutive victories. If you look at the first half of the match against India, it is easy to see that this is the old squad from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, only Thanh Binh is relatively new so he is younger than many others, forced to be replaced after an unsafe half. This may show that, although the young players played very well in the opening match, in the end, only Van Khang, who in 3 months was present in 4 teams including U19, U20, U23 and the Vietnam National Team, was put on the field for the last few minutes of the match. Even Van Quyet, who dominated the match before the team did not have Quang Hai, was only allowed to enter the field from the 60th minute. Then Van Toan, who is playing very well in the V-League, also seems to be trusted in a premium reserve position and has not been able to enter the "first team" in the inherent concept of the Korean coach.

Phan Van Duc scored the opening goal for the Vietnam team. Photo: Hai Hoang

In the above-mentioned first team, Tien Linh did not play outstandingly but it was not easy to leave him out because this star often knows how to shine at the right time, in the right place, when the team needs him to shine. When Van Khang entered the field, everyone thought that Tien Linh would be replaced, but this did not happen, because of the very special calculations of the coaching staff towards the number 1 striker for a long time. Because Tien Linh was not excellent, many times his teammates went down to the sideline to cross the ball inside but there was no "intercept", it was a pity to miss. And this was not Tien Linh's fault alone but the whole system fell back deep, not having enough speed to move up when a quick situation occurred.

Happy but still worried that coming here, Thailand or Indonesia, even Malaysia or the Philippines... it seems that no team will have bad aerial combat and individual mistakes like India recently. The Vietnamese team will not easily exploit this weakness but will certainly have to find other gaps, other spaces, and take advantage of other mistakes of the opponent. The opponent may be ready to play aggressively, or play deep defense. Therefore, Mr. Park Hang-seo must prepare 3 players in each position to counter and take advantage of the strategy. The first lineup against India to face an opponent who plays an open game. Add Van Quyet and Van Toan when the opponent plays deep, and hope for the cunning and suddenness of these factors. At that time, the team will play more flexibly and change more than what has been seen for a long time, both surprising the opponent and avoiding being caught off guard...

When the team always opens the door to new factors, when Van Khang is trusted to continuously surpass the level as seen, then Xuan Tien, Dinh Duy, Thanh Nhan... will also have many opportunities to test their skills, bringing freshness and interesting surprises. The upcoming V-League matches are the "stage" for the new, promising factors mentioned above. Let's wait and see what will come in the calculations of "wizard" Park Hang-seo?