Vietnam - Iraq, 8:30 p.m. January 8: Inspiration for U23 Vietnam
(Baonghean.vn) - After 12 years, the Vietnam national football team has returned to the Asian Cup. The goal of coach Park Hang-seo and his team in this year's tournament is to try to win a ticket to the knockout round. This is considered not an easy task and the first opponent, no longer unfamiliar to the Vietnam national football team, is Iraq.
The heavy 1-4 defeat of Thailand against India is a warning to Southeast Asian teams participating in the 2019 Asian Cup. The continental playground is not easy for developing football teams, including Vietnam.
Exactly 1 year ago, the U23 Vietnam team defeated U23 Iraq in the U23 Asian Cup in Changzhou (China), a tournament in which U23 Vietnam created a fever in the Asian region. Most of the players who participated in that match are now the pillars of the Vietnam team participating in the Asian Cup 2019.
However, Iraq brought to this year's tournament the faces of the national team, not the inexperienced members of the U23 team. Therefore, the difference in expertise and class will be completely different. Iraq is currently considered much stronger than Vietnam.
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Vietnam national football team diligently "practices" to prepare for the match against Iraq. Photo: Provided by VFF |
The performance of the Iraqi national team has been very impressive recently, when they only suffered a single defeat against Argentina in a friendly match in October 2018, and the rest have been draws and wins since March 2018 against Syria (1-1), Palestine (3-0, 1-0), Saudi Arabia (1-1), Bolivia (0-0), China (2-1).
Among the 7 familiar faces of Iraq who have faced U23 Vietnam are defender Alaa Ali Mhawi, midfielders Resan Bonyan, Attwan Kadhim, Hussein Al-Saedi, Safaa Hadi and striker pair Aymen Hussein - Alaa Abbas, the current Vietnamese central defender duo Tien Dung and Duy Manh must still clearly remember the dangerousness of player number 10 Aymen Hussein.
With a height of 1.89 m, Aymen Hussein is completely superior to the Vietnamese defense, combined with his diverse finishing ability, he scored a "double" against Coach Park Hang-seo's students. In Iraq's rejuvenation campaign under Coach Srecko Katanec, Aymen Hussein has always been the number 1 choice in attack, even though the striker, who is playing in the Tunisian championship, has only turned 23.
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| Two days before the opening match of the 2019 Asian Cup, the Vietnamese team is at its strongest. Photo: Provided by VFF |
With the Vietnam national team, Coach Park Hang-seo has a squad of talented players who have fought side by side through many matches. The AFF Cup 2018 championship will certainly help the Vietnam national team's fighting spirit to be more confident in order to aim for a favorable result.
At the 2019 Asian Cup, the Korean coach will continue to deploy a defensive formation of 3 and 5 defenders like in previous tournaments. However, the absence of Dinh Trong and Anh Duc will more or less make the Vietnamese team's play not operate smoothly as it did at the Asiad and AFF Cup. Tien Linh and Duc Chinh are still too far behind Anh Duc in the center forward position. Tien Dung is also a good choice for Dinh Trong as he played very well at the Asian Games.
In terms of strength, Trong Hoang and Van Toan have fully recovered and can play in the upcoming match. In the most recent training session, Coach Park Hang-seo focused on practicing the attack and defense exercises that will be applied in the opening match against the Iraqi team. Earlier in the morning, he and his colleagues in the coaching staff also studied the team's playing style through the match recording provided by the VFF.
In the last 3 meetings at the national team level, Vietnam drew 1 (1-1) and lost 2 matches with scores of 1-0 and 2-0. However, the mentality of the Vietnam national team is now different. Hopefully, the team's 18-match unbeaten streak will inspire Coach Park Hang-seo's students to be more confident and minimize mistakes when meeting Iraq, a team that is highly rated, second only to Iran in this group./.
FORCE INFORMATION
Iraq: Mahdi Kamil, Justin Meram (injured); Fahad Talib, Amjad Radh (banned from competition). Vietnam: Dinh Trong (injured); Van Quyet, Anh Duc (not called up).
Expected lineup
Iraq:Hamed, Salim, Putros, Ali Faiz, Natiq, Rashid, Safaa, Resan, Humam, Ali Husni, Abdelraheem.
Vietnam:Van Lam, Duy Manh, Ngoc Hai, Thanh Chung, Van Hau, Trong Hoang, Hung Dung, Huy Hung, Van Duc, Quang Hai, Duc Chinh.
Prediction: 1-1
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