Que Ngoc Hai is about to re-establish his senior's record.

In which, the defense under the command of Que Ngoc Hai is winning the hearts of fans, re-establishing the record of seniors Phi Hung and Van Sy Thuy.

Defense is the strong point of the Vietnam national team at the AFF Cup. Photo: Internet

Entering the AFF Cup 2018, many people were worried when Mr. Park Hang-seo still decided to play a 3-man defense when Tien Dung was injured and Van Thanh could not participate in the tournament. All worries increased when the Vietnamese team started with the central midfielder duo Quang Hai and Xuan Truong "attacking, not defending". Captain Van Quyet, who has experience in playing and has the role of keeping the rhythm of the match, is showing signs of "running out of battery" early.

The Three Musketeers

Having worked as an assistant to the talented coach Guus Hiddink at the Korean team in the 2002 World Cup, the Korean coach understands better than anyone that to go deep in a cup tournament, the most important philosophy is to not concede goals before scoring many goals. Coach Park Hang-seo's defensive arrangement is showing great effectiveness.

The three central defenders Duy Manh, Dinh Trong, Ngoc Hai, in addition to always keeping a distance of 7-10m to cover and support each other, they also move up quite high to be close to the two central midfielders. In the goal, goalkeeper Van Lam is responsible for controlling the space behind the three central defenders, because Mr. Park believes that Lam "Tay" has a good ability to play football with his feet.

Que Ngoc Hai is a bright spot in the Vietnamese national team's defense. Photo: FBNV

In the two matches against Malaysia and Myanmar, the Vietnamese team only had 31% possession of the ball (against Malaysia) and 47% (against Myanmar) but fans did not see the defenders frantically clearing the ball. The Vietnamese defenders calmly fought for the ball, passing it to teammates standing nearby who had good positions to organize attacks.

The 3 central defenders coordinated very well with the full-backs Van Hau, Trong Hoang, and Van Duc in both attack and defense. The left wing Ngoc Hai had a heavier burden when Van Quyet above him could not participate in much defensive support.

Ngoc Hai's leadership role is clearly shown in difficult times, in the match against Myanmar, SLNA players boldly committed fouls, accepting a yellow card to block the home team's attack. Basically, Ngoc Hai did not let Malaysian naturalized wingers M.Sumareh (13) and M.Maung (11) pass and penetrate Van Lam's goal area.

Still playing aggressively and not afraid of collisions, but now the SLNA defender has more strangeness and tricks in marking people, creating certain inhibitions for the opponent. In addition, Ngoc Hai is often present in the opponent's 16.5m area in set-piece situations to put pressure on the opposing team. The SLNA defender also has a long diagonal pass with high accuracy and variability.

Both Malaysian and Myanmar players played with a lot of physical strength. However, thanks to good preparation, our players did not suffer from the phenomenon of "battery loss" at the end of the match. The key players Xuan Truong and Van Quyet were replaced early when they were exhausted.

Re-establishing the record

Ngoc Hai and Cong Phuong are currently the two bright spots of the Vietnam National Team. Photo: TK

In the 2000 Tiger Cup tournament, the Vietnam national team with the golden generation of Hong Son, Huynh Duc, Van Sy Hung, Minh Hieu kept a clean sheet in all group stage matches. The defense line with Hung Dung, Cong Minh, Nhu Thuan, Phi Hung helped the team draw 0-0 with Malaysia, beat Cambodia 6-0, beat Singapore 1-0 and beat Laos 5-0.

If Vietnam continues to keep a clean sheet in the final match against Cambodia, the Vietnamese team will set a record as the first team to keep two clean sheets in the group stage of the AFF Cup (formerly known as the Tiger Cup).

In the history of 11 AFF Cups, besides Vietnam, there are 2 other teams that have kept a clean sheet in all group stage matches: Indonesia in 2004 and Thailand in 2008. These are truly impressive records of regional football.

SLNA player Que Ngoc Hai has the opportunity to catch up with the clean sheet record in the group stage of his seniors Phi Hung, Van Sy Thuy and goalkeeper Van Hanh. At the same time, it will strengthen the trust of fans in general, and Nghe An fans in particular.