Vietnam National Team: Deadly loopholes from dead ball situations

It must be said that Mr. Park Hang-seo has worked quite hard to build a defensive line of 3 central defenders for the U23, Olympic Vietnam and now the national team. The football philosophy of not losing before scoring a goal of the Korean coach has been absorbed into each student.

We play defensive counter-attack and if we lose early, it will be extremely difficult. Since the AFF Cup 2018 until now, fortunately the team has never been in this situation, but conceding 5 goals from corner kicks and free kicks is still a concern.

Finding the cause

At the beginning of the year in the final round of the U.23 Asian Cup, 7 out of 9 goals conceded by U.23 Vietnam were from free kicks. At the AFF Cup 2018, 3 out of 4 goals conceded by the Vietnamese team were in a similar situation.

Since the beginning of November, Vietnam has conceded 7 goals in 8 AFF Cup matches and 2 friendly matches. Surprisingly, 5 of those 7 goals came from a familiar scenario, which is dead ball. In the draw with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at My Dinh Stadium, Vietnam goalkeeper Tien Dung conceded a goal from a free kick near the opponent’s penalty area.

The 5-man barrier could not control Safari's long-angle shot (11, Malaysia). Photo: Trung Kien

In the recent 4-2 victory over the Philippines, the first goal that Vietnam conceded also came from a corner kick, the ball bounced around in the penalty area and the opponent player quickly finished to reduce the score to 1-2. Thus, both goalkeeper Van Lam and Tien Dung had to go into the net to pick the ball from set pieces.

First of all, when facing the Philippines players, the DPRK has a tall physique and a fast playing style. When losing the ball, the Vietnamese players have no choice but to commit fouls, even though they know it is very dangerous. At the 2019 Asian Cup, the Central Asian players will also face similar threats thanks to their superior physical strength.

The Vietnamese players are short and small, so the wall is not very effective. The second goal conceded in the first leg of the AFF Cup final against Malaysia was because the 5-man wall (Duy Manh, Huy Hung, Van Hau, Ngoc Hai and Tien Linh) was not tight enough, and Van Lam could not control the far corner.

Meanwhile, we are facing opponents with players who possess world-class free kick techniques like Jong Il Gwan (DPRK), the ball goes hard, the trajectory is difficult. To block such shots, the goalkeeper must make accurate judgments and have good stretching.

In the 5 goals conceded, there were 2 times when goalkeepers Van Lam and Tien Dung anticipated, jumped in the direction of the ball and were both surprised by the wrong judgment of the ball's direction. It is difficult to blame the goalkeepers because they sensed the direction of the ball when the opponent kicked, so they had to choose the 50/50 option like that. But it is a warning that at the Asian Cup 2019, there are many players of Jong Il Gwan's level, if not to say there are many players who are even more outstanding.

The goal conceded from the chaotic situation in front of the goal area shows that the commanding role of captain Que Ngoc Hai needs to be enhanced, from setting up the wall to marking the area. With a large number of people but not closely marking, Van Lam's goal still conceded as usual. Not only marking the strikers, we also need to pay attention to scoring moves like the Malaysian defender once did.

Prescribe medicine to cure disease

Mr. Park and his colleagues have clearly seen this shortcoming. In many recent training sessions in Doha (Qatar), he continuously "corrected" each mistake of the players in how to tackle and how to get the ball against tall opponents while minimizing fouls.

He also reminded players like Bui Tien Dung, Duy Manh, Doan Van Hau, Trong Hoang or Ngan Van Dai to control their minds. Forwards and defenders must not pass the ball when they are at a disadvantage, and must not retaliate when provoked.

Mr. Park requires goalkeeper Van Lam to really concentrate on the ball coming from set pieces, enter and exit decisively and make quick judgments to react in time to block difficult shots from the opponent. Photo: Document

Mr. Park also paid attention to building a wall against free kicks. Due to their small size, 5 Vietnamese players standing in front of the ball cannot block all the shooting angles of the opponent. To avoid the ball flying close to the wall into the far corner of the goalkeeper, the number of players with better physical condition must be more dense when building the wall.

At the 2019 Asian Cup, the four players Ngoc Hai, Thanh Chung, Duy Manh and Doan Van Hau are the "hard frame" building the wall and Ngoc Hai is responsible for assigning people to mark in front of the goal to defend against direct free kicks.

In addition, the Korean coach also practiced many mass defense exercises to block off spaces and prevent West Asian players from having free time to shoot.

Goalkeeper Van Lam's role has also been adjusted, accordingly he must really concentrate on the ball coming from set pieces, enter and exit decisively and must make quick judgments to react in time to block difficult shots from the opponent.

The problem now is whether the students can do as the Korean teacher intended or not!