'Endoscopy' of rivals Indonesia and Iraq

This will be an opportunity for both teams to play early to carefully study the strength and playing style of the opponent playing later, in the "sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight" style.

The media made it clear that on January 15, the Vietnamese team immediately started training and of course, Mr. Philippe Troussier could not miss the opportunity to "watch the legs and feet" of the opponent, preparing for the confrontation with the Indonesian team on January 19.

First of all, the Indonesian team entered the ASIAN Cup with a series of disastrous friendly matches (2 losses to Libya with a total score of 1-5, and Iran 0-5) but that cannot be considered the "true face" of the team of the archipelago. The match against the strong opponent, the Iraqi team, showed that the Indonesian team has a new look compared to before, first of all, the squad of 7 naturalized players with good physique, abundant physical strength, confident to face any opponent in the continent. One by one, the naturalized players were put on the field in the above match such as Amat, Bagott, Ridho, Hubner, Klok, Arhan, Struick.

The throw-in into the opponent's penalty area to exploit the second ball and score a goal for Indonesia continued to be applied and striker Marselino almost made a difference when he shot the ball against the Iraqi team's crossbar at the beginning of the first half. The traditional style of attacking the flanks of Mr. Shin Tae-yong's students was still deployed coherently and effectively, as Marselino's goal to equalize 1-1 at the end of the first half showed that this is a weapon that cannot be underestimated...

However, the 2-1 result in the first half and the 3-1 ending (not to mention a very beautiful goal of Iraq that was not recognized after consulting VAR) for the Iraqi team said a lot about the incompetence of the Indonesian team's defense, even though most of them were arranged with naturalized players. Good physique but cannot say that the physical strength is guaranteed, the playing of both naturalized players and domestic players of Indonesia is cohesive. From the 70th minute onwards, the Indonesian players lost strength so the game was completely controlled by Iraq. And remember, in the first 20 minutes, at least 3 times, striker Ali (10) of Iraq had the opportunity to score in front of the Indonesian goal after central or close coordination, causing the Indonesian defense to lose the ball, even though in the 17th minute this agile striker scored the opening goal. The Indonesian team was forced to play defensively, looking for counter-attack opportunities and only succeeded once with this tactic with the counter-attack on the right wing as mentioned above...

Thus, the grandiose declarations about getting points against Iraq equivalent to a draw quickly went up in smoke after the opening match. Another important declaration was Mr. Shin Tae-yong's "3 points against Vietnam", so it seems to be equally vague and fragile when this team has almost revealed all aspects to the opponent, at least in the above "inspections" that Mr. Troussier and his colleagues certainly knew clearly, grasped firmly to find ways to counter and exploit effectively?

The opponent Iraq has just faced the Vietnam team in the first leg of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers (1-0), so the two will no longer be strangers to each other. Of course, the nature of the two tournaments is different, and there are also changes in the force that need to be noted. After the match that lost but left many impressions against Japan, coach Troussier even talked about the second place in Group D if his students played well, which means achieving good results against both Iraq and Indonesia? Specifically, a draw or better against Iraq and a win against Indonesia, is there a basis to take the second place, after Japan?

Perhaps a recent narrow defeat in the last minute of extra time against Iraq, while the strength and playing style of the Vietnam National Team has improved significantly, made Mr. Troussier hope and believe in a good result in the future, and not simply "winding up" as is often seen in strategists? Hope is the right of anyone and does not have to pay taxes, making eloquent statements before each match and tournament is a familiar thing. The only fact is that the Iraq National Team has won the ASIAN Cup and this time they are also considered a candidate for the championship.

Good physique and guaranteed physical strength allow them to "torture" their opponents with fast, close-quarters play, exploiting every gap and mistake of their opponents. Striker Ali always knows how to coordinate in the middle to take over the position to defeat the opponent, and the goal against Indonesia is a specific example. The second goal in the above match is also what Iraq did in the match against Vietnam at My Dinh Stadium recently, when they knew how to exploit the fastest and most effective opportunity to finish off the opponent. The third goal of tall striker Aymen showed the superior strength of the West Asian team so that they could defeat the naturalized center back of Indonesia in an aerial battle, maintaining balance to shoot the ball into the net from a close distance...

The immediate and urgent matter for the Vietnam Team is to achieve the best result against the Indonesian Team and then focus all calculations on the final match with the Iraqi Team. That is, after "knowing the enemy, knowing ourselves", Mr. Troussier will know how to help Duy Manh, Van Thanh, Van Toan, Quang Hai, who had previously been kept in good shape, and their teammates to maximize their individual and collective strength, confidently compete to win the nerve-wracking match with Indonesia. The results from the "endoscopy" of the two opponents in Group D are an indispensable part of the training plan, tactics, solutions, etc. of the upcoming Vietnam Team, so the coaching staff must be diligent, knowledgeable and skillful in "monopolizing" the opponents to create an advantage for themselves before the match even begins./.