AFF Cup 2018: Examining the strengths of Malaysia and Myanmar
(Baonghean.vn) - With two consecutive losses, the door to the next round for both Cambodia and Laos has closed. The race for two tickets to the semi-finals is down to only three teams: Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar. In this group, each team will have one home match and one away match. To gain an advantage, the Vietnamese team needs to get all three points when playing at My Dinh National Stadium.
If after 2 matches, the Laos team was considered the weakest in the group, then new coach Honda has somewhat instilled confidence in the players.Cambodia in the debut match. However, the race for 2 tickets to the semi-finals is only an internal affair of Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar.
Myanmarstrong side kick
In the debut match of new coach Honda at the stadium in Mandalay, the visiting players of Cambodia chose to attack the home team - something that has rarely happened to this team in recent years. In fact, the home team of Myanmar had many difficulties in defending, even midfielder Chan Vanthanaka helped Cambodia take the lead in the 23rd minute.
Conceding an early goal, Myanmar pushed their squad up high, increasing the pressure. But it was not until the 60th minute that the home team equalized thanks to Hlaing Bo Bo. Coach Antoine Hey used a lot of wing play to stretch the Cambodian defenders.
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| Aung Si Thu is a sharp striker for Myanmar. Photo: AFF |
In the remaining time of the match, Than Htet Aung, Aung Thu and Hlaing Bo Bo scored 3 goals, helping Myanmar win 4-1. In which, Than Htet Aung and Aung Thu were the reserve players in this match, proving that coach Antoine Hey has many tactical cards when he needs to score.
Myanmar's 4-1-4-1 formation under coach Antoine Hey has striker M.Zin (9) playing as a striker, famous player Aung Si Thu (16) playing on the left, striker Aung Thu returning from injury proved to be as good as before, despite missing a penalty.
Malaysia reveals personnel and playing style
When returning home to face the Laos team, coach Tan Cheng Hoe is determined to score a rain of goals against the Laos team because the AFF Cup sets goal difference as the most important measure (instead of head-to-head record).
There were 3 changes in midfield personnel when the central midfielder pairing with A.Kram (12) was S.Ahmad (18) instead of Abba (14) as in the match against Cambodia. Midfielder Safawi was moved from the left wing to the right wing to replace the naturalized player from Gambia.Mohamadou Sumareh, gave up his position to Syazwan (16). The highest strikers in the 4-4-2 formation are still the veteran strikers, captain M.Adha (8) and Talaha (9).
Laos' unexpected lead from a difficult free kick from 30m in the 7th minute helped us see the true level of the host Malaysia. 24-year-old midfielder Muhammad Shahrel Fikri, who plays in Thailand, and 27-year-old Ahmad Hazwan bin Bakri, who plays for Johor Darul Ta'zim (Malaysia), are strategic reserve players of Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe.
Through 2 matches, the right wing with the mobility of number 11 Safawi Rasid is the important attacking spearhead of the Malaysian team, which has been shown in both matches against Cambodia and Laos. Midfielder born in 1997 Safawi showed impressive dribbling ability and speed, if he takes advantage of the opportunity, he must have 3-4 goals. As for the crosses from defender Safari (4), there are crosses with high accuracy. So when he needs a "steel fist" from the wing, he will move Safawi Rasid to the right wing.
The Malaysian strikers were not very good at finishing. Against Laos, the home team had almost 5 times more possession (82.3% vs 17.7%), 6 times more shots (24 vs 4) and had 17 corners (vs 0). But in the end, they could only win 3-1, a hard-fought victory, 2 of which came in the last 10 minutes when the Lao players were exhausted.
But clearly, the two veterans Adha and Talaha, who scored for Malaysia in this match, are names that Anh Duc and Trong Hoang will never forget at the AFF Cup 2010. The other name we want to mention is Tan Cheng Hoe, the current head coach of the Malaysian national team, who was the assistant of the veteran coach Rajagopal that year.
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| Malaysian striker Talaha with 3 goals is leading the scoring list in Group A. Photo: AFF |
Difficult mission
After 8 years, the veterans who were part of the Malaysia team that surprisingly won the championship 8 years ago will be present at My Dinh Stadium in the match against the Vietnamese team. The pressure to win in the enthusiastic crowd of 40,000 spectators is truly a challenge for Coach Park and his students. This is considered the early final match of Group A, the winning team will have the advantage of taking the top spot in the group and a ticket to the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2018.
In our opinion, although Malaysia struggled to beat Cambodia and Laos, they are still a tougher opponent than Myanmar because they have better physical strength and speed. Therefore, to win a ticket to the semi-finals and top the group, our team must focus all its strength on the match at My Dinh Stadium, where the team has not lost for 3 years./.