SEA Games 30: Group B situation will be more unpredictable than ever

The three teams U22 Vietnam, U22 Indonesia, U22 Thailand are expected to win 2 tickets from Group B. Of which, U22 Indonesia is holding the Southeast Asian U22 Championship held in Cambodia in February 2019. The tournament in which they defeated U22 Thailand to win the championship, while Vietnam, due to the absence of many key players, had to finish third.

The "three horse" race

With this squad, U22 Indonesia went to Vietnam to participate in the U23 Asian qualifiers, played on par with U23 Vietnam and only lost 1 goal at the last minute. In particular, U23 Thailand lost to host Vietnam 4-0 at My Dinh Stadium. Therefore, it is difficult to determine which of these 3 teams will be stronger, although coach A. Nishino of Thailand is confident when not calling up 2 additional players over 22 years old.

The fact that U22 Vietnam won 6-0 against U22 Brunei with a reserve team, leaving out all the main players, made Mr. A. Nishino also leave "conductor" Supachok Sarachat on the bench. In the 4-2-3-1 formation, he arranged the center forward Supachai Jaided to play the highest position, behind him was the 18-year-old "prodigy" Suphanat.

U22 Indonesia shocked with a 2-0 victory over U22 Thailand.

In less than a month, Suphanat had to participate in 3 consecutive tournaments: the U19 Asian qualifiers, the World Cup qualifiers and now the 30th SEA Games. And he will have the opportunity to compete with the young talent of Indonesian football, 20-year-old striker Egy Maulana, who is playing for Gdansk Club in the Polish Premier League. Egy played very well in the U-18 Southeast Asian Championship 2 years ago in Myanmar. Although the U18 Indonesia team finished third, Egy won the Golden Boot award with 10 goals.

Surprisingly, Indonesia coach Sjafri decided to attack the opponent first, relying on Egy, a striker with great speed, technique, strength and scoring ability. Egy opened the scoring for U22 Indonesia in the fourth minute from a cross from his teammate on the right wing, helping the home team shock with a 2-0 victory over U22 Thailand.

Even when coach Nishino sent Supachok onto the field in the second half to change the situation, the Thai U22 players often failed compared to the Indonesian U22 players in direct competition situations. The Indonesian U22 only used a simple style of play, focusing on attacking from both wings and stuffing high balls into the Thai U22 penalty area, but Mr. A. Nishino's students struggled to defend.

Speed ​​and physical moves

In this match, the U22 Thai team had 19 shots on the opponent's goal but only 6 were on target, while the U22 Indonesian team only had 9 shots but still had the same result. The playing style that relied heavily on speed and physical strength of the U22 Indonesian coach made it impossible for the Japanese coach and the Thai players to find a way to neutralize it.

Coach Akira Nishino could not believe that U22 Thailand lost to Indonesia.

The three U22 Thai players playing for the national team, Supachok, Suphanat, and Supachai Jaided, did not have much space or time to adjust the ball. Having to sit on the bench for too long in the national team, Buriram United player Supachai did not have a good sense of position. In fact, this player has not scored for either his club or the national team for 5 months.

"The tempo of Thailand U22's attacks is very slow. They also do not press their opponents continuously. If they continue to play like today in the next match, Thailand U22's goal of defending the Gold Medal will be considered closed," the newspaperThailand's Siam Sport commented.

According to the match schedule, we will meet U22 Indonesia and then U22 Thailand. Mr. Park has a slight advantage as he is still "hiding his cards" while both Mr. Nishino and Sjafri have used all their best players. But that does not reduce the tension of this group, when U22 Thailand, considered the number 1 candidate for the SEA Games championship, fell on the first day of the match, we need to be very careful./.