Will coach Park use new people or renew old ones?

Being a rather modest and reserved person, Mr. Park spoke so formally, but looking at the list of 33 (with 1 new player added) names preparing for the match with the Malaysian team, he has a plan to renew the playing style.

This is a match where both home and away teams are determined to win 3 points, so both coaches need to find new strategies to defeat their opponents.

Panning for gold

It is not by chance that Mr. Park called 9 new players for the national team gathering, the names Mac Hong Quan, Nguyen Huu Tuan, Nguyen Cong Thanh, Dang Anh Tuan, To Van Vu, Viet Phong, Xuan Manh, A Hoang, Huy Toan are all familiar to the audience. Among them, Xuan Manh, Hong Quan, Huy Toan have been selected before, to be exact, they are "recalled" and not new players.

After an away win against Indonesia but a home loss to UAE, the only goal of the Malaysian team at My Dinh Stadium is to get 3 points, if they do not want to leave the game early. Of course, because of that, coach Tan Cheng-Hoe is forced to carefully study the home team's playing style, most notably the match against Thailand.

This is likely to be the starting lineup of the Malaysian team at My Dinh Stadium. Photo: FAM.

To avoid being “predicted”, Mr. Park Hang-seo will either change the tactical scheme or the personnel on the field. If the 3-defender scheme is still maintained, instead of playing 3-4-3, the Vietnam National Team can still change to 3-4-2-1. Sometimes, when more people are needed in the midfield, Mr. Park can also choose to play 3-5-2 or 3-5-1-1 depending on the opponent's situation on the field.

Innovation in public goods

In this article, we will focus on analyzing more deeply the use of “new people”. Most likely, we will still maintain the 3-defender style of play because there is no reason to change when everything is still working very well.

The position that Mr. Park is most likely to change is the center forward. When the "veteran" Anh Duc is not in good physical condition, Tien Linh shows that he is more suitable for U22 Vietnam than playing in the national team, Cong Phuong is more suitable for the role of strategic reserve than playing from the start.

The common point is that the two central defenders Adam (5) and Saad (5) are not tall players, only 1.72m and 1.77m tall, so we need a strong central striker who is good at aerial combat and pressing.

Will Mr. Park return Mac Hong Quan to the center forward position? Photo: QNFC.

At this time, no one can be better than Mac Hong Quan, who is playing excellently for Quang Ninh in the 2019 season with 8 goals after 24 rounds. The advantage is that having had an impressive playing time for U23 Vietnam and the Vietnam national team before, Hong Quan has enough experience to quickly adapt to the playing style of his teammates in the current team.

Vietnam’s 3-4-3 formation always has a lot of space around the full-backs, either in front or behind. At the AFF Cup, when we pushed the formation high, coach Tan Cheng-Hoe exploited it by using long passes and taking advantage of the “second ball”. By using Mac Hong Quan, the wingers do not have to attack close to the touchline but can cross the ball earlier, and can retreat to defend when needed.

In fact, Mr. Park also has Viet Phong, this striker born in 1993 is in the same generation as Que Ngoc Hai or Dang Van Lam, who joined the Vietnam U19 team in 2011. But Viet Phong's current form is not high, although he has been a starter for Viettel since 2019, he has only scored 1 goal in 10 appearances so far.

The opponent will prevent Vietnam from attacking the flanks, the right wing of Malaysia with 2 naturalized players Sumareh and Matthew Davies will not let Quang Hai stir up the left flank as usual. If he does not return this number 19 to the central midfielder position, organizing attacks in the middle, Mr. Park still has Dang Anh Tuan.

Many times, the midfielder born in 1994 was recommended by coach Le Huynh Duc to the Korean strategist, but it was only until now that his favorite student was called up to the national team. Mr. Duc praised the pillar of Da Nang: "Dang Anh Tuan plays as well as Xuan Truong and Tuan Anh".

Compared to Hung Dung and Duc Huy, Anh Tuan's attacking ability is considered better. The captain of SHB.Da Nang moves without the ball and has a good sense of position, creating conditions for the attack to have more strength thanks to his good physical foundation.