Incomplete birthday of 'wizard' Park Hang-seo

A few days ago, Coach Park Hang-seo also expressed certain concerns about Malaysia being much stronger than in the 2018 AFF Cup. The Korean coach also frankly revealed that he and his assistants have been studying the opponent's playing style to counter it.

In the 3 matches of AFF Cup 2018, the Malaysian team was once a “defeated general” under the hands of coach Park Hang-seo. In the group stage match, the Vietnamese team won 2-0 easily at My Dinh Stadium with 2 goals from Cong Phuong and Anh Duc.

In the first leg of the final, the Vietnamese team scored two away goals thanks to Huy Hung and Duc Huy. Returning to My Dinh in the second leg of the final, Anh Duc scored the decisive goal to make Vietnam the champion of Southeast Asian football.

Compared to the last 3 matches, the Vietnam national team suffered too many losses in terms of force due to injuries. The first two faces are central defender Tran Dinh Trong and midfielder Phan Van Duc. Although Dinh Trong's long-term absence was filled by Que Ngoc Hai, the role of the central defender of Hanoi Club is undeniable.

Dinh Trong's ability to cover, tackle, choose the right spot to intercept, and initiate attacks is at a high level. When Dinh Trong was there, Ngoc Hai played on the left, but now, the captain of the Vietnam national team has to move to the center while Duy Manh still plays on the right. However, in the match against Thailand, Duy Manh, who was used to Dinh Trong, was often not himself and was outplayed by the opponent.

Phan Van Duc is the player who made a mark and directly assisted 3 of the 5 goals that Vietnam scored against Malaysia last year. Without a player like Phan Van Duc, it means that Mr. Park Hang-seo is forced to find another solution, another strategy.

The absence of Phan Van Duc and Tran Dinh Trong is a big loss for the Vietnam National Team. Photo: Archive

Since the training session (September 23), the Vietnam National Team has continuously received bad news about its players. First was the ironic cancellation of Ngo Hoang Thinh due to an eye injury. The "mysterious" factor expected to replace Phan Van Duc, Vo Huy Toan, suffered a torn thigh. New recruit To Van Vu is also a "wounded soldier" and most recently, Xuan Truong suffered a serious injury.

HAGL midfielder has torn his cruciate ligament and is expected to be out of action for 9 months. This leaves Vietnam national team with only 3 central midfielders Tuan Anh, Huy Hung and new recruit Anh Tuan to practice. Because the other two midfielders Duc Huy and Hung Dung joined the team late, they are busy competing in AFC Cup 2019 for Hanoi.

Striker Anh Duc - the player who scored 2 goals against Malaysia at the AFF Cup 2018 is also showing signs of decline and the burden of age. Before joining the national team, the striker of B. Binh Duong scored 5 goals in 19 matches and was injured. In the match against Thailand, Anh Duc could not play and Tien Linh was the last resort.

Coach Park Hang-seo faces difficult personnel problems. Photo: Trung Kien

This time, the Vietnamese national team is so short of strikers that Mr. Park had to call up the relatively “unknown” strikers of Viettel and Nguyen Viet Phong to the national team to have enough players for training. Striker Ha Minh Tuan is also a rookie and still has many questions.

Compared to 2018, Cong Phuong did not play in Belgium and Mac Hong Quan is a new option for coach Park Hang-seo. However, the Than Quang Ninh player is only used to playing as a midfielder and when he joined the national team, he was forced to work as a striker in a 3-4-3 formation.

This time, Coach Park Hang-seo called up 32 players, 6 Hanoi players could not join the team, Van Hau and Cong Phuong are "lonely" in the Netherlands and Belgium. There are at least 4-5 injuries, in which Xuan Truong officially had to say goodbye to the team.

On the afternoon of October 1, Mr. Park walked onto the training ground with a not-so-excited expression, even though today was his birthday. Now we understand why Coach Park had to call up so many players so unusually.

Coach Park Hang-seo worries about the striker position of Vietnamese players

(Baonghean.vn) - On April 23, Coach Park Hang-seo answered questions about the Vietnamese team preparing for the 2 matches against Malaysia and Indonesia in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Mr. Park was somewhat worried about the striker position of Vietnamese players.