Coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh: 'Drawing with Afghanistan is not too disappointing a result'

In the eyes of a professional, former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh said that Afghanistan played differently in this match than in the first leg against the Vietnamese team. According to Mr. Vinh, against such an opponent, a draw and a ticket to the semi-finals is not a disappointment.

What do you think about the recent match between Vietnam and Afghanistan?

I think this is a match with a very high speed, intensity and volume of movement. The goal of both teams is to win a ticket to the next round. As for Afghanistan, they are much better prepared than in the first leg, and they also played much better than in the match on neutral ground a few months ago.

On the Vietnamese team's side, in terms of physical strength, I think the players are improving, meeting the physical requirements for a high-intensity match like this.

Former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh

What is the high intensity of this match, sir?

Afghanistan played a fairly modern style of football, especially modern in terms of thinking: They pressed, marked and surrounded the Vietnamese players very tightly. They played very quickly when they had the ball, mainly with long and high passes, hitting the physical weakness of the Vietnamese team.

It must also be said that in the task of preventing high balls for the Vietnamese team, the role of goalkeeper Tuan Manh in this match was very clear. He played steadily, dominated the 16m50 area, and neutralized most of the opponent's crosses and high shots.

As for the Vietnamese team, how did coach Park Hang Seo's team play?

Overall, we met the requirements. The Vietnamese team mainly played defensive counter-attacks. The team's counter-attacks often featured very quick 1-2 wall passes, which were completely different from the ha-gia-lai style of passing. This style of play helped us create some breakthrough situations.

According to Mr. Vinh, the Vietnamese team has done the most important thing, which is to win a ticket to the 2019 Asian Cup finals.

Is the team's playing style similar to that of coach Mai Duc Chung, or different from that of coach Nguyen Huu Thang, sir?

Similar to the time when Mr. Mai Duc Chung was the interim coach in terms of personnel, but different in terms of playing style. Basically, the match with Afghanistan was more difficult than the match with Cambodia, because the Afghan players did not give the Vietnamese players much space to operate as Cambodia had made mistakes.

In terms of personnel, is coach Park Hang Seo's starting lineup reasonable?

No one knows the players better than the head coach when it comes to using them in each match, so we need to respect his decisions. In my opinion, the personnel arrangement against Afghanistan was reasonable in that players with good ability, plus good height were given priority to use, in defending against high balls against Afghanistan.

For example, Van Hau started on the left wing instead of Van Thanh. In my opinion, Van Hau has a much better height, so he has an advantage in defending high balls. Van Hau may be young, and there are some situations where he loses concentration, but overall he meets the requirements.

Thank you!

According to Dantri