"Song Duc" and "Song Hai" are shining talents

Song Hai is talented.

Among the four names, Que Ngoc Hai is the silent hero. The central defender position does not give the audience the overwhelming emotions after a goal like Anh Duc, Quang Hai and Van Duc in the attack.

After the match at Bukit Jalil Stadium, with his ankle swollen, the Nghe An man sent a message to a sports journalist: “I’m in pain, I don’t know if I can play the return leg. Yesterday they hit me with a bad ball.”

"Song Hai" (Quang Hai, Ngoc Hai) is the most important factor in the second leg of the final. Photo: Internet

Then the “Nghe An warrior” had to take painkillers and put on his boots to play. Because in the important final match when Van Quyet and Xuan Truong did not play, could the last staff of the team also sit on the bench?

It must be said that his teammates played "carrying the card" for their captain, rolling around to block Malaysia's attack, but Ngoc Hai also somewhat showed his class as a defensive leader.

The SLNA midfielder was alert, present at the hot spot at the right time, intercepted the ball at the right time, cleared the ball safely at the right time to protect the 16m50 area well. It was no coincidence that when the entire defense was given 13 yellow cards and 1 red card by Iranian referee Alireza Faghani, despite playing very tough, Ngoc Hai still did not violate the rules of receiving a card.

At the age of 25, Que Ngoc Hai's career has had all the necessary "joys, anger, love and hate" with SLNA and the national team. After this prestigious gold medal, he has the right to leave Vinh Stadium with his head held high to find a new destination for his football career.

At the AFF Cup 2018, Quang Hai was the player who had to lie down the most times due to malicious fouls from opponents. All 6 of our opponents understood that Quang Hai was the "detonator", if they could stop that creative inspiration, it would be considered 50% successful. If Quang Hai could not be stopped by his technical style of play, the opponents would be willing to commit fouls, including tackles to take him down.

But Quang Hai gritted his teeth and overcame everything, especially the twisting of his body to make a cross of unimaginable difficulty for Anh Duc to open the score in the final match. Quang Hai was the best player of this tournament, even though there were many matches where he was assigned to play as a central midfielder, which is not his forte.

Song Duc ultimate move

The presence of the “Dutch duo” in the attack line shows the Korean coach’s skillful combination, ensuring that “river water does not interfere with well water”. The playing style of Anh Duc and Van Duc compensates for each other’s shortcomings in the attack line.

At the same age as him, 33, many of his retired teammates sat in the stands watching the veteran Binh Duong player plow through. No one thought that a player who had fallen out of favor under both coaches Miura and Huu Thang could shine and contribute greatly to the gold cup this time.

The left-footed goal against Malaysia was the perfect punctuation mark for 12 years of playing for the national team, in which, when he was at his best, he was not the main man in attack. But the most beautiful image was the moment he retreated to the left corner flagpost to support Van Hau in defense, which was highly appreciated. No one forced the 33-year-old veteran, who plays as a striker, to do that, but Anh Duc is like that, dedicated and plays responsibly.

Song Duc is truly a "two swords combined" in this AFF Cup. Photo: Trung Kien

2018 was a memorable year for player number 20 Van Duc. For other V-League players, adapting to the position of winger in a 3-4-3 formation, far different from SLNA, was already difficult. But the player born in 1996 did much better, Van Duc played both midfielder and defender positions, both left and right wing with 2 goals, 2 exemplary assists.

Van Duc had an outstanding match at Bukit Jalil Stadium, an important factor in our 2 away goals with his subtle yet effective playing style.

In the second leg, facing the Syazwan - Sumareh pair with an annoying playing style on the right wing, with dangerous overlapping phases, in addition to separating Syazwan from Sumareh and making Sumareh quite alone in the front line, the trio Van Hau, Van Duc, Quang Hai had a narrow arrangement so that Anh Duc could catch a perfect volley to officially keep the Cup for Hanoi.

Of the four names above, the time left for the national team of “veteran” Anh Duc is not much. But certainly all four names and the Vietnamese team that created miracles at My Dinh Stadium will be remembered forever by fans.