5 highlights of the match between Vietnam and Iraq

1.The battle of wits of the teachers

The audience witnessed the competition of two coaches from two continents, with different football philosophies. Both Mr. Park Hang-seo and Coach Srecko Katanec were successful in using number 10s in this match. If Cong Phuong shone, contributing significantly to the 2 goals, then the 19-year-old player Mohanad Ali from Iraq did the same. Even the pressure of this continent's young star on Van Lam's goal was greater than CP10.

Defender Ali Adnan, who is considered the "Asian Gareth Bale" has a classy free kick. Photo: AFC

Initially, coach Srecko Katanec used 5 midfielders to overwhelm the Vietnamese opponent playing with a 3-4-3 formation. When the score was 2-1, Iraq withdrew the 3rd center back Osama Rashid from the field, switching from a 3-5-2 formation to a 4-4-2 with the presence of Humam Tariq, increasing the flank attacks, limiting Vietnam's direct attacks.

When Humam Tariq - the player known as "Iraqi Messi" was introduced, Iraq had 3 attacking players Humam Tariq (11), Mohanad Ali (10), Ahmed Yasin Ghani (9) causing the Vietnamese goal to shake. Meanwhile, Duc Chinh did not make any significant impression, clearly.Coach Srecko Katanec has better quality reserve players and using 3 tactical formations in 1 match shows that Iraq has many tricks up their sleeves.

2.Free kick

Defender Ali Adnan, who is considered the "Asian Gareth Bale" and won the title of "Best Young Player in Asia" in 2013, scored a classy free kick. While Vietnamese fans are debating whether Van Lam should stand in the goal with a distance of 8/2 or 7/3 from the two vertical posts, Ali Adnan shows the value of the $8 million contract that Italian football had to pay.

Since AFF Cup 2018 until now, the Vietnamese team has played 11 matches, conceded 10 goals, 6 of which were from set pieces.

3.Center

Cong Phuong made center back Ali Faez Atiyah become the second player at the 2019 Asian Cup to score an own goal. And defender Ahmad Khalaf after the match had to wonder: "I wonder why that number 10 was so quick" when scoring the second goal. When Cong Phuong left the field, the Vietnamese strikers were almost only on defense, which shows that technical handling in a small area is still this player's exclusive strength.

Few people think the 19-year-old playerMohanad Ali is againThe player who neatly handled the situation of stealing the ball to score after Duy Manh's mistake or competing in the air to put pressure on Que Ngoc Hai so that his teammate could score.

Child prodigy Mohanad Ali (10) was rated the best player of the match. Photo: AFC

4.Left wing

Hong Duy was placed in the back position because of his excellent performance at the AFF Cup 2018 and Mr. Park wanted the triangle of Hong Duy, Xuan Truong, and Cong Phuong to attack the left wing. But it seemed that this was too much for this number 12 and the foul that led to the goal in the last minute of the match was simply due to his physical exhaustion and inability to compete with his opponent Safa Abdullah.only 21 years old. After this match, Duy's chances of starting will be significantly reduced.

5.Conductor

Xuan Truong is still the conductor of the Vietnamese team, possessing quite good long passes in the context of Quang Hai being identified. But clearly, using Xuan Truong in attack is the right decision, but abusing this player in the midfield area makes the midfielder from Tuyen Quang almost disappear in defensive confrontations.

Osama Rashid (8) and then Safa Abdullah (7) had no trouble marking Xuan Truong, while Que Ngoc Hai, in his usual position, watched helplessly as the "Iraqi Messi" scored the equalizer to 2-2 without any support from the central midfielders. Having to "plow for" his teammates also caused Hung Dung's battery to drain faster than usual, and only when Huy Hung entered the field did things improve.

Iran is a much stronger opponent than Iraq from the coaching bench to the players on the field. But Mr. Park's goal is to get points. To do so, the weaknesses mentioned above need to be limited and new cards must be played.

AT