Vietnam - Malaysia match: Reclaiming old debt

During the 90 minutes at Phnom Penh National Stadium, Coach Tan Cheng Hoe’s players did exactly what their coach intended. They knew for sure that there would be Park Hang Seo’s “spies” in the stands at the Olympic Stadium, so they didn’t need to press, just kept the ball, accelerated short distances and sometimes were “indifferent” in the ball-fighting phases.

Hide cards, hide people

Due to the previous match schedule, the yellow team had no reason to go all out to destroy Cambodia, competing for goal difference with Vietnam, who had the advantage of playing later, especially when Cambodia was considered to have a higher level than Laos. After scoring, Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe's students did not attack but instead switched to a "cat and mouse" game to starve the home midfield. Even the physical parameters of the "Harimau Tigers" have not been revealed much.

The Malaysian national team is keeping its "special dish" waiting for Vietnam. Photo: AFC

Looking at coach Tan Cheng Hoe’s players, people do not know what Malaysia’s strengths and weaknesses are. Just like the Malaysian “spies” in Laos only saw the Vietnamese team using only a central attack with a few confusing passes. Even the Malaysian coaching staff did not have any information about the playing style of their opponents Laos in the upcoming match. With 16% possession time in the match with Vietnam, it is really too difficult to measure the attack of this Million Elephants team.

Many people mistakenly think that Thailand is the biggest rival, forgetting that in the past 2 decades, they have only once tripped up the Vietnamese team. The Malaysian team is one of the destroyers of our golden dream. In fact, in 10 times facing the Vietnamese team, Malaysia has only won 3 matches, drawn 2 and lost 5 matches, but in the past 8 years, they have beaten us twice.

The Vietnam national team's schedule is quite favorable when we will face Malaysia in the AFF Cup group stage at My Dinh Stadium on November 16. This is the third match of the away team and they will most likely have 6 points before coming to Hanoi. Coach Park Hang-seo's team needs to be especially vigilant against this fateful opponent.

Reclaiming an old debt

Eight years ago, at the AFF Cup 2010, although Malaysia lost 1-5 to host Indonesia in their first away match, they surprisingly eliminated Thailand with a 0-0 draw to advance to the next round together with Indonesia. Anh Duc and Trong Hoang were the players present in the semi-final match between the Vietnamese team that year, we lost 0-2 after two home matches. That year, although Indonesia's Firman Utina was voted the best player of the tournament, they still lost the cup to Malaysia.

At the AFF Cup 2014, the Malaysians did the same thing once again. Huy Toan and Van Quyet performed a miracle when they came from behind to win 2-1 away from home. However, in the end, the Malaysian players did even better, causing the Vietnamese team to be eliminated after losing 4-2.

Veteran Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (9) of the Malaysian national team has many years of experience fighting with European teams. Photo: AFC

"Spy" Lee Young-jin, who was assigned by Mr. Park to Bukit Jalil Stadium to watch the match between the host Malaysia and Laos, will certainly have to pay close attention to the name Norshahrul Idlan Talaha - the only goal scorer against Cambodia. Malaysia's No. 9 scored against Vietnam in a 4-2 victory at My Dinh 4 years ago. In 2010, Talaha was also part of the Malaysian team that won the championship after defeating Vietnam in the semi-finals. In addition, the two Radzak brothers, Zafuan and Adha, are the remaining veterans of the 2010 generation. This trio, as well as Anh Duc, Trong Hoang, and Van Quyet, will have the opportunity to meet again, and it is now time to repay the old debt.

Besides the veterans, in our opinion, some names of the U23 generation of Malaysia are also formidable. Number 11 Safawi Rasid and number 14 Kutty Abba are the factors that the Vietnam team must pay attention to because of their aggressiveness and strength on the field. In the final minutes against Cambodia, the two players, both born in 1997, had remarkable situations to attack the goal with impressive speed./.