There is no way to overcome Que Ngoc Hai and Nguyen Manh.

With more than 60,000 spectators cheering enthusiastically, from the second half, they sent out most of their best players to maintain ball control at 72.4% (compared to 27.6% of the Vietnam team), launched 24 shots but only 8 were on target and only brought back 1 equalizer... these are specific numbers that show that the Japanese team is trying by all means to find a win, a goal feast to thank the home audience and close the campaign to hunt for tickets to the World Cup.

But that desired party did not come true when all the home team's attacks encountered... a forbidden line with the words "No way past Que Ngoc Hai" (No way past Que Ngoc Hai) in a humorous way on the homepage of the Asian Football Confederation - AFC after the match as a compliment and encouragement for the Vietnam team and central defender Ngoc Hai.

Another statistic also shows that the reason why the powerful Japanese team only had one draw against the team that maintained the bottom position in Group B of the 3rd Qualifying Round, the Vietnamese team, was because they "had no chance of overcoming Nguyen Manh". SofaScore's statistics gave the Vietnamese team's goalkeeper the highest score with 8.1 points thanks to 7 saves, including 4 from shots in the penalty area, touching the ball 52 times.

Vietnam National Team

If the two SLNA players mentioned above are both experienced players on the national team, "far from being out of date" as AFC jokingly said, playing with determination and steadfastness in the match against the Japanese team, it would be worth mentioning that the two players who made up the trio of central defenders with Que Ngoc Hai, Thanh Binh and Viet Anh, are just two "young buds" of hope, newly promoted to learn the game. And to be honest, if the seniors Duy Manh, Tien Dung, Thanh Chung... do not get injured or receive penalty cards, they will be assured of "wearing out their pants on the bench", especially Thanh Binh after the disaster in the first leg match against the Chinese team.

But miraculously, in the context of "using whatever is available", this U23 duo was put on the field and played well in every way, especially Thanh Binh with a goal of a lifetime that made the home team sweat to recover. Thanh Binh from that shining situation was considered to have "paid both principal and interest" when he was trusted to be called up to the Vietnam National Team to participate in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the World Cup and proved the insight of Mr. Park Hang-seo and the coaching staff, in searching for and adding potential factors to the teams.

When the Vietnamese team mainly focused on defense with a 5-4-1 formation, of course the two attacking fullbacks, Tan Tai and Van Thanh, had almost no chance to cross the midfield line and mainly played low like two real fullbacks, forming a shield with the three central defenders. Tan Tai, on a day when he could not use his attacking strengths but had to focus on defending the flanks, faced an excellent Mitoma (who had previously scored a double in the match against Australia and was now a starter), knew how to neutralize this striker. On the opposite wing, Van Thanh had not played well for a long time, but against Japan's Cubo-Messi, he did not let the striker who is playing in La Liga escape, which was another bright spot, adding another "blocking line" in the chain of blocking lines to block all the home team's attacks.

Of course, the multi-layered defense system of the Vietnam national team in this match has the contribution of the long-range defense line including Tuan Hai-Hung Dung-Tuan Anh and Quang Hai, in which the most stubborn person is Tuan Hai with abundant physical strength, strong impact, willing to retreat deep and ready to advance when there is an opportunity. Coach Park Hang-seo's trust in Tuan Anh is well-founded if this player regains his inherent physical strength to meet the requirements of surrounding, blocking and being present at all hot spots. Meanwhile, Hung Dung and Quang Hai will contribute to cleaning up, regaining the game and suddenly counter-attacking from Quang Hai's delicate, extremely unique touches towards the highest player on the attack line. That is a defensive but proactive defense, multi-layered cover but ready to switch to transition mode.

To see that, in the match against the Japanese team, every position of the Vietnamese team was truly a mobile, flexible, visible "no-go zone" always set up to block the opponent. The compliments of AFC for Que Ngoc Hai and the encouraging statistics for Nguyen Manh are correct and accurate, but not enough to prove that the Vietnamese team fought steadfastly and bravely based on superb defensive art, plus luck to get a proud result in the match that closed the 3rd Qualifying Round.