Chinese team 'victory like in a horror movie'

This is a real battle of wits betweenCoach Park Hang-seoand coach Li Tie, the coaches who lost the first two matches of the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia. Before the match, the media of the two countries pushed the match to the climax, although the winning team did not have much chance of going further, but it was the honor of the two football countries.

Lurking like that

Coach Li Tie was quite clever in not pressing but "opening the door" for the Vietnamese players to attack. The host team China used 45 minutes of the first half to break the opponent's strength and style of play, in which, the only player playing abroad, Wu Lei (Espanyol), playing on the right wing in a 4-4-1-1 formation, was asked to play close to the wing. Zhang Linpeng, who was ordered to leave the right wing to play as a central defender to mark Cong Phuong, did not appear in the starting lineup.

“Players' mistakes are the fault and responsibility of the coach and the person using the player.” Photo: VFF

The two strikers Elkeson and Yuning Zhang, a 24-year-old young player with a height of 1.85m, who played for the Chinese U22 team that lost 0-2 to Vietnam U22 two years ago in Wuhan, started. The ball was continuously fed to Yuning Zhang with long, high passes, intentionally to wear down the Vietnamese defenders. Meanwhile, the naturalized Brazilian player played slowly, sprinting in short bursts to disrupt the Vietnamese defense of three central defenders.

Coach Park used the Hong Duy and Van Thanh outfits when Van Hau and Trong Hoang could not play. The 5-4-1 formation had Tien Linh - the player who had the chance to score a double against U22 China in 2019, leaving Cong Phuong on the bench as a strategic card. Obviously, the coaches all had reasons to approach the match in different ways, it was a bit surprising that the Chinese team did not attack as aggressively as initially declared.

Wu Lei Class

But Wu Lei was the difference in the match and the class of the player who just played against Real Madrid was the key to the match. All 3 goals of China had the mark of this number 7, in which the shot on Thanh Binh to score the third goal was a masterpiece. The class of the player who is playing in La Liga is unquestionable, although we have prepared but we can do nothing more.

Wu Lei moves intelligently, depending on the situation, he will change the 4-4-1-1 formation to 4-3-3, making Tien Dung and Thanh Binh "smell the smoke". His ability to fight in the air, run and press, cut in front or hold the ball to break through is perfect. Even central defender Que Ngoc Hai, who is quite good at "fighting the West", but his success rate in playing high balls against Yuning Zhang and Wu Lei is only 50%, showing that Thanh Binh should not be blamed too much.

With 2 goals, Wu Lei was the best player of the match. Photo AP

Wu Lei forced Mr. Park to replace all 3 players on this wing, Van Duc, Tien Dung, Hong Duy, and finally admitted: "Maybe I replaced the players too early. That was my fault. The player's mistake is the fault and responsibility of the coach, the person using the players." When he did not have a defender like Y. Nakatomo (Japan), no matter how he replaced the players, Coach Park had to give up. Especially in the second half, Coach Li Tie replaced both strikers, determined to exploit the advantage of body shape and physical strength to win.

What remains

To be fair, we also had a 10-minute final match worth watching when the two U22 Vietnam players Tan Tai and Tien Linh recreated the match from 2 years ago when facing U22 China. Not many Asian players can handle the ball with both feet to score a goal as neatly as defender Tan Tai. The equalizer to 2-2 was a performance of the passing style that Quang Hai and Tien Linh showed they deserve to be praised.

When they tried their best but could not get a draw, the Vietnamese players deserve praise rather than blame. The opponent also had to work very hard to get 3 points. For me, who has been following the team for a long time, I was filled with joy when Hoang Duc, for the second consecutive match, was given the highest score.

An Thanh