International media: Hats off to Mr. Park

Goalkeeper Dang Van Lam had an impressive match, denying all dangerous opportunities from Malaysia. Photo: Minh Chien/Zing.vn

SheetThe Star(Malaysia) has an article with the title: “Despite having 69% possession, Malaysia still lost 0-2 to Vietnam”. This article has a paragraph: “The Malaysian team’s desire to win the third victory at the AFF Cup 2018 was extinguished by Vietnam with a 2-0 victory at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam on Friday night (November 16).”

“The Fall of Hanoi”

SheetCosmoagain called this defeat of the Malaysian team "the collapse in Hanoi" when they could not win the 3rd consecutive victory at the AFF Cup 2018, but instead conceded 2 unanswered goals at the My Dinh fire pit.

Malaysian sports journalists said that only coach Park Hang Seo knows how to make coach Tan Cheng Hoe and "Harimau Malaya" have illusions about the strength of the team ranked 169th in the FIFA rankings that can beat the home team ranked 102nd.Cosmosaid: "In this match, Coach Tan made some changes to the attacking line such as using Akhyar Rashid, Shahrel Fikri and Mohamadou Sumareh from the start while arranging Syamer Kutty Abba to play the central midfielder role" with the aim of earning 1 point.

But seeing captain Van Quyet not on the field, and two thin midfielders guarding the midfield, not strong in competition, made the "Malay Tigers" forget their original intention. They decided to attack high and fell into the trap of the Korean coach.

SheetNew Straits Times(Malaysia) has an interesting article with a comparison: "The Malay Tigers entered the cave of the Golden Dragons (the nickname of the Vietnamese team) with the hope of gaining at least 1 point. However, the opponent set a trap so that they could not return safely."

PageFootball TribeAnalyzing more carefully, Mr. Park was too clever when he accepted to "give up the ball, give up the field but not give up the feet". Therefore, the two attacking spearheads Shahrel Fikri and Norshahrul Talaha both played poorly because they often had to play low to get the ball, so their shots were easily neutralized by goalkeeper Van Lam. Only with a reasonable strategy and strong spirit and mentality can the Vietnamese team neutralize the opponent's attack.

Kosmo newspaper called this defeat of the Malaysian team "the collapse in Hanoi". Screenshot

Vietnam won because of Mr. Park

In the hometown of Coach Tan and his students, the newspaperNew Straits TimesThe commentary began with the headline: "Malaysia has fallen into the lair of the Vietnamese team in Hanoi."Bola Sportin Indonesia, the problem comes from the fact that coach Tan's squad has no creative players in midfield. However, Mr. Tan still believes that if the pressure is increased, both Quang Hai and Xuan Truong will be confused, not understanding that Mr. Park only needs to adjust one of the two names Trong Hoang and Van Duc to move inside, then the home team's 3-4-3 formation will become 3-5-2, with 3 names playing in central midfield.

It is true that Mr. Park's decision to field a "fragile, fragile" squad has caused Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe to "get angry" and adjust his tactics to win 3 points to get the first ticket to the semi-finals. Indeed, if Malaysia, with its good physical foundation, focused on defending in large numbers to earn 1 point, who knows what would happen after 90 minutes at My Dinh Stadium. But many regional sports journalists have asked the question: What makes Mr. Park confident that his students will stand firm when the opponent holds the ball for 2/3 of the time?

Regional media and many international newspapers have to admit that the 3 points for the host team Vietnam were completely deserved. Despite witnessing Malaysia's bitter defeat, the media of this country did not blame coach Tan Cheng Hoe and his students. Simply put, Malaysia faced one of the region's best coaches, so Vietnam's victory was completely deserved.