Mr. Park uses 'softness to overcome hardness'

Before the match, Indonesian coach Shin Tae-yong used provocation tactics, posting clips of Van Hau's disputes along with a "reminder" to the referee; talking about the advantage of traveling by private plane. "The opponents of the Vietnamese team in the group stage are all weak, so they cannot score.",The coach who led the Korean team at the 2018 World Cup spoke confidently before the first leg of the semi-final. Meanwhile, Mr. Park, along with the team's coaching staff and players, carefully analyzed Indonesia's playing style.

Correctly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors

When he discovered that in the 2022 AFF Cup qualifiers, Indonesia scored 8/12 goals from crosses, he switched from a 3-4-3 formation to a 3-5-2 formation focusing on the two wings. Reading coach Shin Tae-yong's mind, instead of defending, at the beginning of the 2 halves, we rushed to attack, striking first to score the first goal, this move stunned the opponent's defense.

Realizing that the 1.84m tall, 30-year-old Spanish-born center-back Jordi of the visiting Indonesian team was tall but slow, Coach Park decided to use a long, high ball. The reality at My Dinh Stadium showed that these were professional moves that were decisive in the outcome of the match. Surrounded by the visiting players, Tien Linh still cut in to score with his head, a plan that the Korean coach had carefully calculated.

Ignoring the names Van Quyet and Van Duc on the bench, Coach Park brought the three names Do Hung Dung, Nguyen Hoang Duc and Nguyen Quang Hai onto the field for a reason. He decided to use softness to overcome hardness and we successfully controlled the area in front of the 16.5m circle with a very technical style of play.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shin Tae-yong thought that with the 3-4-3 formation, the Indonesian players would torture the home players' physical strength, even dragging the match to 2 extra periods to win a ticket to the final. But with the early goal, the plan was ruined and attacking and pressing was not the forte of the Indonesian players. Especially when in the second half, Mr. Park replaced 2 out of 3 central defenders, the away team no longer had the advantage in physical strength in the attacks.

Develop your strengths

Mr. Park uses "softness to overcome hardness". Photo AFC

On the attack line with 5 goals, leading the scoring list with Dangda (Thailand), striker Tien Linh naturally got a starting position, paired with him is Nguyen Tuan Hai. This duo has good physical strength, supporting the defense by not giving the Indonesian defenders space to control the ball. The home team Vietnam's attack line did a very good job of dividing the opposing midfielders - the bridge connecting the two lines of the opponent. The duo Tien Linh - Tuan Hai almost closed all passing directions aimed at the duo Marc Klok and Yacob Sayuri.

When these two midfielders could not connect with the back line, of course the Indonesian front line did not have the necessary ball supply. Therefore, the Indonesian team had no choice but to pass long balls to the front line, or passively push the ball out to the wings. This was a match where the Vietnamese team forced the opponent to play as they wanted, with the wing-backs covering the back, and the two full-backs could freely move up and put pressure. Van Hau did a good job of attracting the opposing players into dead ball situations, creating psychological inhibition for the opponent.

Mr. Park defeated Mr. Shin, erasing the curse of not winning against Indonesia in the AFF Cup for the past 26 years, keeping a clean sheet through 540 minutes of play - a record for the tournament. But it seems that the Korean coach has not used up all his tricks. We have not seen the whirlwind of Van Toan on the sidelines, as well as Van Quyet and Van Duc who are being "locked" on the bench preparing for the two final matches. According to experts, Mr. Park still has a few or three scoring options and he is choosing the right time to fall in the final match to have a perfect farewell scenario. In particular, Quang Hai is the most expected name in the upcoming final match, "the movie or the ending" is here.