'Dissecting' the reason why Mr. Park still trusts Cong Phuong?
(Baonghean.vn) - Playing in 3 out of 4 matches of the Vietnam team in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, striker Cong Phuong has not contributed a single goal, despite receiving many expectations from Mr. Park. In other words, the Vietnam team still needs a striker like Cong Phuong.
Except for being absent from the match against Indonesia due to an injury during the warm-up, Cong Phuong appeared in 3 matches against Thailand, Malaysia and UAE. In the match against Thailand, in the beginning of the second half, Cong Phuong was sent on the field by Coach Park to replace Tien Linh, but he did not play successfully. In the 45 minutes of playing on the field, Cong Phuong sat on the bench for Sint Truidense Club, leaving only a few missed shots.
“Non-scoring” striker
Absent from the match against Indonesia due to an injury during the warm-up, Cong Phuong surprisingly made it into the starting lineup against Malaysia, playing for 63 minutes before being replaced by Anh Duc. This was the match where Quang Hai scored in the 40th minute, in a defensive counter-attack, but Cong Phuong was replaced by veteran Anh Duc. The team's coaching staff did not want the Malaysian players to have the opportunity to counter-attack in situations where this Nghe An striker lost the ball.
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| Cong Phuong. Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang |
In 30 minutes on the field, although he only touched the ball 16 times, Cong Phuong had 5 penetrations into the UAE's 16.5m box, and had 1 shot. Although he played only half the time compared to Van Toan, Cong Phuong also made 11 passes, with a success rate of 81.8%, including 1 decisive pass. The number of times Cong Phuong put pressure on the UAE goal was 7, which is an acceptable number compared to his teammates.
Compared to the matches with Thailand and Malaysia, in this match, the UAE players played lower, not competing as fiercely as the players in the Southeast Asian region. That is, Cong Phuong always received the ball in very favorable situations. People saw that Cong Phuong had enough space and time to handle the ball. But the more he wanted to score and tried to find opportunities, the more confused Cong Phuong was, losing opportunities for himself and his teammates.
In fact, Cong Phuong’s current style of play is only good at attracting opponents and almost neglecting the stages of creating and scoring goals. Cong Phuong’s dribbling is only suitable for the end of the match, when it is necessary to hold the ball to prolong the time, not to score more goals.
In many situations, it would have been better to pass the ball to a teammate or boldly shoot instead of dribbling, but in the end, Cong Phuong chose the worst option. In fact, the Sint Truidense player dribbled too much, causing the opposing defender to close in and block him in time.
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| More than anyone, Mr. Par is the one who understands Cong Phuong. Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang |
More than anyone, Mr. Park is the one who understands Cong Phuong. He puts Cong Phuong on the field to disrupt the opponent's play rather than create and score goals. In the current defensive counter-attacking style of the team, Quang Hai and Van Toan are much more suitable than Cong Phuong.
In the next match, coach Akira Nishino was forced to win against the host Vietnam; when needing a striker with ball-holding technique, operating independently in the siege of Thai players, there was no one in the Vietnamese team better than Cong Phuong. So in the match against UAE, coach Park Hang-seo may have sent Cong Phuong onto the field to prepare for the match against the Thais rather than to score more goals.
