Vietnam - Indonesia: The confrontation of two Korean teachers

The Indonesian team lost heavily to the Vietnamese team 0-4 in the 8th match of the 2nd qualifying round of Group G of the 2022 World Cup. After accepting to lead the Indonesian team in December 2019, coach Shin Tae-yong attended the firstAFF Cup. President of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), retired general Mochamad Iriawan hopes that the Korean coach will change history when Indonesia has reached the AFF Cup final 5 times but has never won the championship.

Indonesia's Wind Blow

The battle between two Korean teachers. Photo: BTC

For now, Mr. Iriawan told coach Shin Tae-yong and his team to do their best to defeat the Vietnamese team in the group stage match on December 15. But experts said that this was just "catching the wind", because they would not be foolish enough to try their best to play against Vietnam because Malaysia is the direct competitor for the semi-final ticket.

Indonesia's schedule is quite favorable with two warm-up matches from low to high against Cambodia and Laos to gain experience, then face the Vietnam team, then Malaysia (December 19). The difficulty for Mr. Shin is to quickly shape the Indonesian players into a unified block with a high playing spirit for the common victory of the team, not individual spontaneity.

Like Mr. Park, Coach Shin Tae-yong is also flexible in applying tactics. In the match with Cambodia, the Indonesian team played with a 4-1-4-1 strategy, but when playing with Laos, they used a 4-3-3 formation. According to the Korean press, Mr. Shin has not yet used all his tactics before facing Vietnam, even though he has scored 9 goals.

What Que Ngoc Hai and the Vietnamese defense need to note is that up to now, there have been 7 Indonesian players scoring goals, of which E.Dimas (6), R.Irianto (13) have each scored 13 goals so far. If Coach Park discovered Hoang Duc, when he was the coach of the Indonesian national team, Coach Shin discovered the 22-year-old central midfielder R.Irianto (13). At the Persebaya Surabaya Club, this young midfielder has shown remarkable progress in the past season, being the bridge between defense and counterattack. R.Irianto changes state very quickly, regardless of the 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 formation thanks to his mobility and ability to read the opponent's attacking intentions. In the match with the Vietnamese National Team, Hoang Duc and R.Irianto (13) will face each other, it will be an interesting match.

Main attack direction

I.Jaya (25) was the best player in the 5-1 victory over the Laos team. Photo: BTC

The left wing is the main attack direction of the Indonesian team when midfielder E.Dimas (6) and I.Jaya (25) have quite good overlapping moves. E.Dimas (6), 26 years old, is a face that many Vietnamese players have faced, while the small midfielder I.Jaya (25) has just been used by coach Shin Tae-yong recently. I.Jaya (25) was the best player in the 5-1 victory over the Laos team, with 1 goal and 1 assist. Meanwhile, the main striker number 7 Walian also scored his first goal at the AFF Cup 2021 and initially created trust for coach Shin.

In the match against Laos, 3 players on the attack line including Walian, E.Dimas, K.Yodo and central midfielder R.Irianto were all given an early rest to prepare for the match against Vietnam. Indonesian press said that in the 2 matches against Vietnam and Malaysia, coach Shin Tae-yong and his team only need 2 points to enter the semi-finals. So it is not difficult to guess that coach Shin will focus on defending in large numbers with a 4-5-1 tactical formation to get a favorable result. People will see the 2 Korean coaches showing 2 different hard-soft playing styles, if the Vietnamese players use technical playing style, Indonesia will choose a strong hitting style to discourage the opponent.

The Vietnamese team has just had a convincing 3-0 victory over Malaysia and fans are waiting for their third consecutive victory in Singapore. Coach Park has many cards that have not been revealed yet and is in good physical and mental condition to do this./.