Vietnam - UAE National Team: Fitness is a matter of survival

Although coach Park Hang-seo and his team have defeated many teams from West Asia,UAE is still a big opponent, the upper hand. With a rather simple style of play, teams from West Asia are always a fear for teams in the "lowlands" of football like Southeast Asia. The team from the archipelago returned in a bad mood when they were "tortured" by the home team to the point of exhaustion and had to accept a 5-0 defeat.

Even though the host Thailand won 2-1, they still did not have the upper hand over the visitors. Perhaps it was because 19-year-old midfielder Ekanit Panya played so well.

True brand

Coach Bert Van Marwijk has called up nine defenders for the match against the Vietnamese team on November 14. AP photo

The squad of this team ranked 6th in the continent is rated 9 times higher than the Vietnamese team by the world player valuation website Transfermakt. The total value of the UAE players is 14.53 million euros (equivalent to more than 375 billion VND), while the figure for the Vietnamese team is only about 1.60 million euros (more than 41 billion VND).

The most expensive star on the UAE side is striker Ali Mabkhout, worth 4 million euros (about 103.5 billion VND), while the most expensive player on the Vietnamese team is goalkeeper Dang Van Lam, worth about 312 thousand euros (nearly 8.1 billion VND). In addition to Ali Mabkhout, the UAE has two strikers Ahmed Khalil and Omar Abdulrahman who are also quite expensive, each valued at about 2 million euros (about 51.7 billion VND).

Other UAE players are also worth several hundred thousand euros. In the Vietnamese team, behind Dang Van Lam is Cong Phuong with a price of 200 thousand euros (about 5.17 billion VND). Van Hau and Quang Hai are both worth about 150 thousand euros (less than 4 billion VND).

Achilles' heel

“We will take all 3 points at My Dinh Stadium,” said coach Bert Van Marwijk. Photo: CNN

After two consecutive wins, the UAE was stopped by Thailand, so they still have only 6 points, ranking 3rd, and they have more or less exposed their weaknesses. The UAE press also pointed out the weaknesses of the home team after losing to Thailand. They said: "The UAE needs to overcome its weaknesses, especially in defense. All 3 goals conceded by the team so far have come from crosses. The two wings are the UAE's weak points. Defender Al Attas is showing many problems, the head coach should give Hamdan Al-Kamali a chance."

InThe 24 names that coach Bert van Marwijk brought to Thailand for training before meeting the Vietnamese team included left-back Yusuf Jabir - who is playing very impressively for Shabab Al Ahli Club in the UAE national championship. Along with that is 28-year-old midfielder Habib Al Fardan.

Coach Bert van Marwijk is having a headache choosing who to replace striker number 1 Ali Mabkhout because he has received 2 yellow cards. This makes UAE like a "tiger without teeth", a really difficult problem for coach Bert van Marwijk. The number 1 striker of UAE football is currently the only "ignitor" of the team. After 3 matches, this striker has scored 6 goals out of 8 goals of UAE.

Take advantage of the opportunity

In addition to the absence of Ali Mabkhout, this West Asian team also does not have the services of two important midfielders, Ahmed Barman and Khalil Ibrahim, due to injury. It is very likely that coach Bert van Marwijk will have to adjust to the familiar 4-4-2 formation due to the absence of the above three pillars.

Mentally, Mr. Park and his players are very excited. Meanwhile, the UAE players are under a lot of pressure from fans. Experts even asked the UAE Football Federation to summon coach Bert van Marwijk to explain the defeat to Thailand and the preparations before the match with Vietnam.

UAE usually plays with a 4-2-3-1 formation, like Thailand and Malaysia. Our players are very familiar with how to deal with this formation. The key is to distribute enough physical strength to stick with the opponent for 90 minutes and need to have individuals shine at certain times like the Thai players did.