Decoding the "unique trick" of coach Park Hang-seo at AFF Cup 2018

Cong Phuong, Quang Hai... very good

It is not until now that the Vietnamese team has been highly appreciated in the AFF Cup 2018, but since winning the silver medal at the U23 Asian Championship earlier this year, the regional media has given coach Park Hang Seo and his team a very different view.

Not only is Vietnam a strong candidate for the AFF Cup championship with a young, enthusiastic, and balanced squad, the fact that the Vietnamese team has outstanding talents like Quang Hai, Cong Phuong, Van Hau... also makes other teams in the region more wary.

In other words, it has been a long time since the Vietnamese team has been highly appreciated by opponents and has known so many names in the squad by heart in an AFF Cup, even the championship 10 years ago is not equal.

This is also understandable, because after what has been shown in the past two or three years by Quang Hai or Cong Phuong and some other names, they are the dream of many top clubs in the region, so that all are considered the main cards for the Vietnamese team to rewrite history since the first championship exactly 10 years ago.

but the best is still... coach Park

Quang Hai, Cong Phuong and many other players in the Vietnam national team will of course be the destructive weapons that coach Park Hang Seo has in his hands. However, according to experts, it is... not, when the key to the victory of the Vietnam national team is none other than the Korean strategist.

Coach Park Hang Seo's talent at this time seems to be indisputable as he is one of the first people to help Vietnam's youth football teams achieve remarkable results in the continental arena with success in the U23 Asian Cup and Asiad.

However, what really makes everyone bow down to Coach Park Hang-seo is the decisions on using personnel at each moment in the match or according to the stage of the tournament. And this is the key to the success of U23 in the past tournaments.

Many goals came from players coming off the bench, typically with important goals from Van Toan or Cong Phuong to help U23 Vietnam reach the quarter-finals and semi-finals of Asiad is an example.

Or the decisions to change personnel on the attack line in different matches are also extremely effective with many heroes considered as number 2 or premium reserves like Van Duc or Minh Vuong.

Looking back at the journey with U23, it seems that Coach Park Hang-seo's decisions to change players and play style in each match are often less wrong and bring great results.

Of course, that doesn't mean the Korean strategist was completely right in his decisions, but at least up to now there haven't been any unfortunate incidents since the U23 Asian Cup to the Asiad.

Possessing many talented players, but that is only the beginning of victory, as for the decision to succeed or not, the Vietnamese team is still waiting for the "trick" from Mr. Park.

And to say that the best player in the Vietnamese team right now is coach Park Hang-seo is not wrong!