Le Thuy Hai's Corner: 'Iceland can create surprises'

Although France is ranked as the favorite, coach Le Thuy Hai does not doubt the ability of Iceland, the team considered the weakest among the 8 representatives in the quarter-finals, to cause a surprise.

France will have to be cautious

France is the home team, although they did not play well, I see them improving day by day compared to the matches in the group stage. But as we know, Iceland has nothing to lose, and is in a very relaxed state of mind. Thanks to this relaxed state of mind, combined with Iceland's tactical calculations, I think France will definitely have to be cautious. Don't think that France is much better than Iceland, the rate is 60%-40% as some opinions predict. I do not evaluate the France - Iceland match like that. In my opinion, the chances of France and Iceland winning are close, equal. If the French defense does not play focused and cautiously, it will be very easy to fall into a dangerous situation.

Through watching the matches of the French team from the beginning of EURO until now, I think that the French defense is not excellent, compared to the midfield and attack, it can be said to be the weakest. Meanwhile, the Iceland team reaching the quarter-finals is a success beyond expectations, the mentality is too comfortable. This is the first time the Iceland team has gone so far in a big tournament like EURO and they have played solid football, showing their closeness with the big teams in Europe. The Iceland players have also played very well from the group stage to the round of 16.

Iceland is not a strong team, they play with spirit, the brilliance of pride. Iceland players play freely, not too cautiously, but because England is weak, they lost. Iceland is not good in tactics or playing style. Thanks to their comfort, they won against England. From the past matches, especially the 2-1 victory over England in the round of 16, I see that Iceland's team played nothing special. But England does not bring confidence to everyone, so Iceland won and this is not a surprising result at all, even though the score difference in the above match was only 1 goal.

Closely marking Payet and Griezmann

Iceland has an advantage in its style of play: fast attacks, when they attack or counterattack, they often bring surprises. Iceland's style of play is very fast, their attacks are very consistent. Iceland's attacking players make quick judgments, they understand each other, so they play coherently without being subjective or slow. But on the contrary, when Iceland loses the ball, they organize their defense very tightly, so it will be very difficult for France to impose their style of play.

Iceland's formation distance when attacking or counter-attacking is maintained very well, but whether they can maintain that distance and build a multi-layered defense is the problem. Furthermore, we also have to consider whether Iceland's defenders can limit and control the French team's attackers such as Payet, Griezmann, Giroud.

Although the French team's style of play is not as outstanding as Germany or Italy, there are still sharp points in their squad that Iceland's defenders need to take special care of. If Iceland's defenders do not organize close man-to-man marking, leaving the French sharp points open even for a few seconds is very dangerous. Maybe one of them does not directly score but shows danger in other places. We have to analyze it like that to be fair.

Of course, France will still be ranked as the favorite against Iceland, but if the home team is not careful, just a little subjective, losing focus will be very dangerous. In the quarter-finals, not every team has the right to think that they can win, the teams no longer show superiority, if only looking at the force. Iceland is not strong but plays very scientifically, not simply. When they go deep, they will calculate again, not simply have a comfortable mentality when passing the group stage. Meanwhile, France is not a very good team, so can they beat Iceland?

Iceland will play counter-attacking and will try to execute their plan. Iceland cannot be like Italy but they will play like that. So Iceland can create a surprise."

According to Thethaovanhoa