Coach Le Thuy Hai makes surprising comments about Vietnam National Team

In the opening match of Group A of the 2018 AFF Cup, the Vietnam national team defeated the host Laos 3-0 with an overwhelming advantage. However, veteran coach Le Thuy Hai was not too satisfied with the performance of the Vietnam national team. He commented that the playing style and operation of the Vietnam national team still had many shortcomings. Specifically, they still allowed the Laos national team to deploy the ball down the flank and shoot.

Coach Le Thuy Hai said that the Vietnamese team needs to be cautious against Malaysia.

“The 3-0 win over Laos was great, but the defense was not really good. Laos was weak but they still let them go down the wing and shoot, the two central midfielders Quang Hai and Xuan Truong both tend to attack. In the match against Laos, the Vietnam team had the advantage that coach Park Hang-seo could change new players to experiment because he definitely could not lose, and choose the way to play for the following matches,” coach Le Thuy Hai told Soha newspaper.

“We have more than a week off before playing Malaysia. Many people think that is an advantage, but it is not. It is not good to have a long break because the Vietnamese national team players have prepared well and are physically fit for a long tournament. A long break will cause us to lose our rhythm and the first match will not be of high intensity, not the rhythm for us to get into rhythm,” the former Technical Director of FLC Thanh Hoa analyzed.

With his professional eyes, Mr. Hai also admitted that playing against Malaysia will not be as easy as playing against Laos, especially when witnessing the way Tan Cheng Hoe's team deployed their playing style in the victories against Cambodia and Laos. Certainly, the Vietnamese midfield cannot pass the ball as easily as against Laos, and it is also more difficult to run back to fight for the ball because Malaysia keeps the ball, they are strong, they switch from small passing to fast play very well, long counter-attacks are an advantage, they are also physically strong, especially having many fast players.

From this perspective, coach Le Thuy Hai believes that if they do not play with concentration, Park Hang-seo and his team may not win.

"If we enter the match with the expectation of winning with a high score, the Vietnam team will easily go bankrupt because we are not sure we will win against Malaysia. Each opponent is different, we cannot compare Laos with Malaysia, but the way Malaysia plays and changes with our team, we must use that as a basis for evaluation," the coach from Ha Dong concluded.