Coach Park Hang-seo and the secret to success for Vietnamese football (part 2)
(Baonghean.vn) - After solving the problems of cultural conflicts and unreasonable eating habits of Vietnamese players, Coach Park Hang-seo began to choose the 3-4-3 tactic to apply to the Vietnam U23 team and the national team. Those are the next main contents in the book about Coach Park Hang-seo.
Coach Park Hang-seo reveals many surprises about Vietnamese football(Part 1)
(Baonghean.vn) - In a book recounting Coach Park Hang-seo's sharing about his working process in Vietnam, the Korean coach revealed that the first thing he did when taking over the Vietnamese team was to change the players' eating habits.
Weaknesses of Vietnamese football
Coach Park Hang-seo said that Vietnamese players lack upper body muscles. When he told the players that, they were all skeptical. Because the players thought, for football players, why develop upper body muscles but not lower body.
Coach Park explained that if you don’t have upper body muscles, you will easily lose strength and lose your balance when playing with your body. Football is a sport that requires constant physical contact with your opponent, so you have to run and face the opponent’s pursuit at the same time.
Therefore, not only the lower body muscles but also the upper body muscles must be even. That is the reason why coach Park Hang-seo requires that after every dinner, the players must do advanced muscle exercises for about 30-40 minutes.
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| Coach Park Hang-seo was also surprised by his player's innate football skills. Graphics: TK |
In addition, the weakness of Vietnamese players is the ability to understand tactics and pass the ball. In particular, the ability to pass the ball to the left and right wings is still not good. However, players who have been trained systematically in youth clubs can overcome this better.
On the other hand, since coach Park Hang-seo arrived, he has changed the way Vietnamese players play by limiting unnecessary fouls, especially on the home field. This will cause the home team to face direct free kicks or crosses.
Eliminate the 4-defender formation, choose 3 central defenders
Coach Park Hang-seo analyzed: “In the 4-defender tactic, there are still 4 attacking players, but the tactic used in Vietnam in the past time is the 4-defender tactic. Because they invested more in defense than necessary, it was very disadvantageous for the attack, so I think that is why they were not able to use 100% of the resources their team had.
Until the U23 Asian Cup in China, Coach Park had a month to observe the players. One by one, he discovered their abilities and built tactics on that foundation. At that time, a Vietnamese airline supported free air tickets for the team so Coach Park's assistants could go to any V.League match.
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| Diagram of 3 central defenders of Vietnam national team. Photo archive |
And coach Park Hang-seo chose the 3-4-3 and 3-4-2-1 formations. Coach Hiddink also mainly used this tactic for the Korean team in 2002. Vietnam's 3-4-3 form is similar but the content is slightly different. That is the reason he talked about another variation of the 3 tactic.
The Korean coach said: “The 3-4-3 tactic is a tactic in which players have to run non-stop, both stopping and sharing their physical strength with each other. This tactic is the most evenly arranged tactic for each individual player on the field. But it is a tactic that threatens the opponent from start to finish, from attack to defense. Therefore, all players cannot do it if they do not have enough physical strength to meet world standards.
In addition, Coach Park Hang-seo has long determined that 3-5-2 will be a new option for Vietnamese football: “The 3-5-2 tactic is a typical tactic, but depending on the situation, I can use 4 or 3-5-2 or many types of coordinated formations. Vietnam's tactic is not to focus on active defenders. It is an offensive tactic.
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| Vietnam national football team is very good with long balls. Photo: Document |
Once in possession, the two players in the middle will come inside and become attackers. The number of forwards will increase to 5 in a moment. With the 3-back tactic, the players are not defenders but they are center backs. They are the best ball control players in our team.
Characteristics of the 3-center-back formation
Coach Park analyzed: “The 3-4-3 tactic, the 3 players playing as center backs will be both full backs and center backs. Because of their good control ability, it is very difficult for them to lose the ball. There will be no ridiculous mistakes. When they have the ball, they pass it forward and can improve the situation. If the space behind the opponent is empty and when the ball is broken, they can kick the ball forward only once.
Although it is also a long ball, because of the ability to control, it is completely possible to connect a long ball to the desired location with a soulful long pass. That means passing the ball in the air accurately to the attacking player at a very slow speed. In the semi-final against the Philippines at the AFF Cup, the 2 goals were the opportunity we built from the soulful long passes.
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| Vietnamese players are more skillful and technical than coach Park imagined. Photo: VFF |
The two central defenders (Duy Manh, Ngoc Hai or Tien Dung) play the role of stopping the opposition from rushing in. That is the most pressured position in our team. They must be there to block the attack so that the full-backs can move inside completely.
When the central defenders come in and close, the attacking team becomes 5 people, the number of attacking players increases, and all the players can move faster and with short passes, they gradually enter the opponent's defensive area. As I said, the response, the quickness and flexibility are the strengths of Vietnamese players.
"The achievements I have made are actually the result of the efforts of the Vietnamese people. To be honest, 99% of them were built before I took over this team. My contribution is very little."
The role of the 2 full-backs (Van Hau - Trong Hoang)
To build this tactic, human resources are very important. These are the 2 defenders who play on the left wing. They are the ones who have to run the most and have good technique. These two players are actually the Libero. They must take on the role of defender behind, on the wing and flexibly switch their roles.
It is their support that the formation can turn into 3, 4 and 5 in a moment. Sometimes doing “blocking the trio” and then switching to zonal defense, it all depends on their movement. As I said, zonal defense will greatly reduce the energy consumption of the defenders.
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| Trong Hoang is a treasure in coach Park's hands. Photo: Trung Kien |
Coach Park Hang-seo also explained that other teams cannot use 3-4-3 like Vietnam and know how Vietnam attacks but are still helpless. He said: “Because this tactic is designed according to the strengths of Vietnamese players, other teams cannot apply it.
Without two full-backs with extremely strong and agile activity frequency, three attacking players with the ability to respond quickly and most of all, 11 players with great speed and sensitivity, it is impossible to build a 3-man tactic like Vietnam anywhere in the world. That is the reason why Southeast Asian countries cannot follow this tactic.
To be continued...
Next: Strengthen your mind and eliminate the defeatist mindset (Part 3)
How important is Phan Van Duc in coach Park Hang-seo's 3-4-3 formation?
(Baonghean.vn) – Since the match against Thailand in the first leg of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, coach Park Hang-seo has not had the services of midfielder Phan Van Duc. And that is also part of the reason why coach Park's 3-4-3 tactical formation has increasingly fewer goals.
