The Vietnamese national team and the defensive-counterattacking strategy.

That's normal in football, especially when there's a gap between two matches.teamIt lasted for a whole month.

Coach Park Hang-seo must carefully consider his personnel choices. (Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang)

However, upon closer inspection, there are also some… unusual (?) aspects, such as the excessive number of players called up (almost 40 players), some of whom are only moderately good in the V. League, who joined the training camp but left early (like Dinh Kha), some who haven't been called up in a long time (like Nguyen Manh), and even some who were called up before but not kept, and are now called up again when the training camp time is actually not long (Xuan Manh, for example)…

Looking at the list of players called up, it's clear that Park Hang-seo has added players from the goalkeeper position (Nguyen Manh), the defense and midfield (Thanh Thinh, Xuan Manh, Lieu Quang Vinh, Dang Van Toi…), and the forward line (Manh Dung, Xuan Tu…). It seems the South Korean coach has called up many players from the Vietnam U22 team with a view to the long-term future, rather than aiming for specific results in this challenging third qualifying round.

The coaching staff and players surely understand which matches are crucial for the Vietnamese national team, and obviously, coach Park Hang-seo will be very cautious in his tactics and strategies to achieve the best possible results. Previously, coach Park Hang-seo only fielded young players Thanh Bình and Tấn Tài for a short time in the match against Australia at My Dinh Stadium. The possibility of these two players, and other newly called-up players who, if they remain on the final list, get any playing time in upcoming matches, remains uncertain, if not very slim.

However, are there still other opportunities for seasoned V. League players and national team veterans like Thanh Thinh or Xuan Manh? Firstly, because the Vietnamese national team's defense has never been as volatile as it is now due to injuries, suspensions, and inconsistent performance in recent matches.

Coach Park Hang-seo's biggest worry is the "wings"—the wingbacks. Although Trong Hoang has played diligently and effectively, he still has certain weaknesses on the right wing, while on the left wing, he has successively deployed players from Van Thanh to Hong Duy, but the team's conceded goals still stem from there.

It's no coincidence that Thanh Thinh and Xuan Manh were recalled after being sent back last time. There are various speculations about the roles of these two players, but looking at how Coach Park used them before and how they usually played at Da Nang and SLNA, it's not difficult to guess where they will be deployed if they remain in the squad. Both can play as defenders or midfielders, Thanh Thinh is strong on the left and Xuan Manh is purely on the right. Xuan Manh, in particular, was even deployed as a center-back by Coach Park during the U23 tournament in Changzhou.

Xuan Manh is tenacious and just as good at marking as Trong Hoang. If they work well together, he can make runs down the wing and deliver crosses from the right flank, as is often the case with Coach Park, and he hopes this will be repeated in this training camp. Therefore, suggesting that Xuan Manh will be assigned to the left wing is very difficult for him, simply because it's out of position. Not to mention that Thinh has just joined the national team and their talent and form seem to be on par with each other.

Because they were called up late, Thanh Thinh and Xuan Manh didn't have as much playing time as their teammates. The issue now is the South Korean coach's trust in his favorite players from the Changzhou tournament and their subsequent performance, especially their recovery and regaining form after a prolonged injury and the temporary "participation" from the previous tournament.

The pressure to refresh the team isn't actually that great because the upcoming matches against China or Oman are either the first encounters or the first meetings after a long period of unpredictable changes. The most important thing is still the peak performance of the key players, coupled with quality replacements from young players when the opportunity arises.

As seen, the fact that coach Park Hang-seo did not call up any more teammates of Xuan Truong and Tuan Anh from HAGL, but instead added quite a few teammates of Ngoc Hai and Tien Dung from Viettel, shows that he trusts the stable players and their rising teammates such as Thanh Binh and Hoang Duc, keeping and calling up Van Thiet, Trong Dai... in order to create the most familiar and sustainable "linkage" when going into battle.

These are necessary adjustments, unavoidable after at least three defeats against strong opponents, to help Coach Park Hang-seo and his team truly understand their current position and what they need most in terms of technical and tactical skills, as well as reinforcements. The most important and urgent priority is strengthening the defensive line, from near to far, to create a foundation and springboard for counter-attacks and surprise assaults aimed at gaining and maintaining control of the game, creating and ending difficult battles in unpredictable moments...