"Tape analysis" to read the Philippines national team
(Baonghean.vn) - It was no coincidence that assistant Lee Young-jin spent 4 hours on a private plane from Hanoi to Bacolod to watch and re-watch the match between the Philippines and Thailand in the group stage. This was the match in which coach Sven-Goran Eriksson left a strong impression, worthy of his name.
In that match, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson could not do what his predecessor had done 46 years ago, enjoying the joy of victory over Thailand. But the 1-1 draw also made his counterpart Milovan Rajevac have winged words to say about the Philippines team.
Elevating the old style of football
In fact, because he took over the team too late, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson had no choice but to use the same players and playing style that his predecessor had built. But the Swedish coach was quite skillful when just a few small adjustments caused Thailand to have difficulties. That is also what made assistant Lee Young-jin and coach Park Hang-seo especially interested, in order to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the team.Philippines through the video of this match.
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First, to counter the high-intensity pressing of the Thai players, midfielders Manuel Ott (8) and John-Patrick Strauss (36) often did not control the ball but played with one touch. Above, the 31-year-old "veteran" Phil Younghusband also took advantage of his 1.80m height to act as a wall for his teammates.
The Philippine players were asked to move around the hot spots without the ball, not allowing Thai midfielders P. Anan (21) and T. Kesarat (17) to surround and isolate the midfield.
With just this small change, the Thai players quickly fell into a situation of "running around with no ball" and actually only controlled the ball 40%, which is rare for a top team in this region.
Watching this match again, we will see that coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was very strange when asking his students to focus on passing the ball to open space to compete with Thailand's speed and strength. With better physique and physical strength, the home team made 586 passes, surpassing Thailand by 360 passes.
Thus, the space behind Van Hau and Trong Hoang will be continuously penetrated by the students of coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. Midfielders Iain Ramsay (7), Patrick Reichelt (29) will continuously compete with the Vietnamese players. How to distribute physical strength throughout the 90 minutes is something that Mr. Park and the Vietnamese coaching staff must consider.
To block Thailand's most dangerous explosive S. Dechmitr (29), Mr. Sven-Goran Eriksson was quite clever, immediately moving midfielder S. Schrock (17) to the right wing. This is the method that Mr. Park also applied with Van Duc, moving the left midfielder to play right back. Certainly, if the Vietnamese team does not have a second plan when the Philippines "kills" Quang Hai, they will face difficulties like the Thais did.
It was not the Philippines' 4-4-2 formation that overcame Thailand's 4-3-3 style of play, but the adjustments made by coach Sven-Goran Eriksson in the 90 minutes that were the key to that draw.
This was also the only match that coach Milovan Rajevac had a “headache” when adjusting tactics but the match did not go as planned. In the second half, he even withdrew his most important striker Kraisom (9) to save energy for the next match.
Air battle at Panaad Stadium
Surely at Panaad Stadium (Bacolod) with the Vietnam team, there will be an aerial battle. Because this is the home team's style of play that takes advantage of the height of 6 players (excluding goalkeeper Michael Falkesgaard) from 1.80m or more.
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We would like to provide the names of these "giants", which are the central defenders Carli de Murga (number 3, 1.80m tall), Alvaro Silva (number 33, 1.87m tall), left midfielder Iain Ramsay (number 7, 1.80m tall), right midfielder: Patrick Reichelt (number 29, 1.80m tall), central midfielder Adam Reed (number 31, 1.80m tall) and finally captain Phil Younghusband (number 10, 1.80m tall).
The return of two players currently playing in Germany and Romania, central midfielder John-Patrick Strauss (36) and winger Daisuke Sato (11), will significantly reduce the strength of the home team. According to our own sources, Adam Reed (31) will play in central midfield while Iain Ramsay (7) will be assigned to play on the wing.
Not to mention the fact that the Philippines team has played a total of 6 semi-final matches (2010, 2012, 2014) but has not scored even 1 goal regardless of playing at home or away, giving us reason to believe in victory in Bacolod.
