Coach Park Hang-seo and his team's luggage to return to regional playground

Statistics of 6 matches in the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia, we lost all, conceded 12 goals, scored 4 goals, ranked last in Group B. This is not an unexpected result, even the prospect of going empty-handed in all 10 matches is completely possible. Mr. Park also warned about this before we entered round 3, simply because it was our first time in a big playground.

In-depth analysis

First of all, talking about the 4 goals, we scored against Saudi Arabia (1 goal), China (2 goals) and Australia (1 goal). The players who scored were Quang Hai, Ho Tan Tai, Tien Linh (2 goals), we could not score against Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia (second leg, home). Analyzing the 4 goals, there were 2 goals, Quang Hai and Tien Linh opened the score against Saudi Arabia and Oman, both of which happened when playing away. Quang Hai's goal was scored right at the beginning of the match, we defeated the home team Saudi Arabia.

What has the Vietnamese team achieved? Photo: VFF.

Two goals against China with only 15 minutes left in the match were a reward for the team's determination, with Tan Tai's strike surprising the neighboring team's coach Li Tie. This was a match in which midfielders Quang Hai and Hoang Duc shone, creating two assists and keeping our team from losing any more. It is fair to say that this was the best match of Mr. and his team.Park Hang-seo, if we have a draw it will be fairer.

In the 2 matches against Saudi Arabia and Oman, we scored first but still lost 1-3. In this playground, when the opponent attacked continuously, we could not protect the favorable score due to disadvantages in level, physical strength, and experience in controlling the match. It seems that when facing China, an opponent not too different in class, and having a disadvantage in the score, we have an easier mentality to play.

Against experienced opponents like Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia, although we only lost 0-1, the mentality of being counter-attacked and conceding goals at any time made us not dare to push up the squad. Currently, after the unsuccessful experiment with Duc Huy, in Mr. Park's hands there is no player capable of counter-attacking against strong continental teams.

23-year-old midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc is perfecting himself in the role of conductor in charge of regulating matches for the Vietnamese team. Photo: VFF.

We conceded 12 goals, without keeping a clean sheet in any match, in which we were scored 4 goals by Saudi Arabia, Japan (1 goal), China, Oman (3 goals) and Australia (1 goal). Of these, 9 goals were scored by the opponents in the second half, all of which were scored 3 times by Saudi Arabia, China and Oman in the last 45 minutes. Except for China playing defensive counter-attacks, Saudi Arabia and Oman both used physical attacks to destroy our Vietnamese players.

In fact, not only Vietnam but also Southeast Asian teams were attacked by West Asian teams using this tactic and most of them lost, including Indonesia, a team with many naturalized players. Thus, when playing on this big stage, physical strength and fitness are still big problems that we cannot easily improve immediately.

New Face

In terms of personnel, 23-year-old midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc is perfecting himself in the role of conductor in charge of regulating the matches of the Vietnam team. In 2 out of 6 matches, this midfielder was voted the best player of the match by Sofa score. Nguyen Hoang Duc's scores in the 6 matches were 6.4; 7.3; 7.6; 6.5; 7.0; 6.2 respectively, much better than his senior Tuan Anh, who is showing signs of declining form.

Coach Park will soon have to consider the tasks that Phan Van Duc will take on in the near future. Photo: VFF.

Temporarily leaving the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia, Mr. Park will have a headache with how to use Van Duc in the AFF Cup. He has forced this number 20 to sacrifice his favorite position, retreat deep into the home field to participate in defense and Mr. Park will soon have to consider the tasks that the SLNA player will take on in the near future.

Losing the match in the third qualifying round is not something anyone can blame the coaching staff or the team players for. What is important is how they will transform when returning to the familiar playground in the region.