Trong Hoang and Van Hau are injured, how will coach Park "patch up" the defense?

The end of the 21st round of V.League left “unpredictable” consequences for the Vietnam national team before participating in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. Immediately after the match with Da Nang, Hanoi FC announced that Doan Van Hau had suffered a serious injury. Specifically, the 20-year-old star suffered a very serious injury to his right knee. It is expected that Van Hau will take up to 2 months to return to training and competition. Thus, the 2019 V.League is considered to have ended for the Hanoi player and he certainly cannot join the Vietnam national team in the match with Thailand on September 5.

Mr. Park’s bad luck did not stop there. In the match between Viettel and Saigon, Trong Hoang had to leave the field early after a collision. Trong Hoang was later diagnosed with a torn thigh muscle and needed a long recovery time. Thus, up to now, the Vietnam national team has lost the most important wing in the defense.

It should be added that Van Hau and Trong Hoang are two extremely important tactical cards in the 5-defender formation that Mr. Park often uses. With the 5-defender formation when defending (5-3-2) and 3-4-3 when attacking, Van Hau and Trong Hoang become two important factors in both defense and attack of the Vietnam National Team.

The injuries of Van Hau and Trong Hoang pose a difficult problem for coach Park in defense. Photo: VPF

With Dinh Trong's previous injury, Vietnam's defense now only relies on three experienced players, Que Ngoc Hai, Bui Tien Dung and Duy Manh. Center back Duy Manh is also showing signs of overload after a long period of continuous "plowing" from V.League to AFC Cup. These are clearly signs that give Mr. Park a big headache, because the match with Thailand is the most important match of the year for the Vietnam national team.

According to the latest information, Mr. Park has a preliminary list of players registered for the World Cup qualifiers. Surely among them there will be names that are especially noted to replace Van Hau and Trong Hoang, even Duy Manh.

The first person to mention is probably Van Thanh. The HAGL defender has just returned from injury and is showing good integration. Although he has not been able to regain his previous form, Van Thanh was once a favorite of Coach Park at the U23 Asian Cup, so he will not feel "surprised" when being trusted by Coach Park. Although he is not as versatile and combative as Trong Hoang, the addition of Van Kien (Hanoi FC) is also not a bad solution. Another name that will be a replacement for Trong Hoang is Ho Tan Tai of Binh Duong. Although Tan Tai is not too outstanding compared to his seniors, he plays well every time he is called up by Coach Park to the Vietnam U23 team.

Van Thanh will be the bright name that Mr. Park will call up to replace Trong Hoang. Photo: VPF

Another name that needs to be mentioned is central defender Thanh Chung, a player from Hanoi who had an impressive performance for Hanoi during the time Dinh Trong was injured. In the recent U23 Asian qualifiers, Thanh Chung played very impressively, he directly scored 1 goal in the 4-0 victory of U23 Vietnam against U23 Thailand.

The defense has always played a key role in the miracles that Mr. Park Hang Seo has achieved with the Vietnam National Team. The formation of 3 central defenders and 2 full-backs with the task of attacking and defending in harmony has helped the Vietnam National Team play effectively in both defense and attack.

Therefore, the fact that the two wingers named Van Hau - Trong Hoang are injured and will miss the opening match of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers is a difficult problem for the Korean strategist. However, Mr. Park is always good at "panning for gold" with the ability to use people flexibly and effectively. It is very likely that the upcoming replacements will make a good impression, completing the task of "patching up" the defense against the Thai team.