Vietnam - Malaysia (1-0): Coach Huu Thang's mark

(Baonghean.vn) -Seeing the Thai team with 2 consecutive wins topping Group A, both Coach Ong Kim Swee and Coach Huu Thang wanted to win to "avoid" the defending champion in the semi-finals. But in the end, victory only came to the team with more courage and experience, which was the Vietnamese team with the clear mark of the coach from Nghe An.

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Before the match, many football experts boldly put Vietnam as the “upper hand” because of the obvious favorable factors. A victory in the first match and just 1 point in the match against Malaysia would be enough for Huu Thang and his team to reach the semi-finals. Besides, in terms of force, coach Huu Thang only lacked Tuan Anh due to injury.

Coach Huu Thang's mark was very clear in the match.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian team lost 4 key players. Before the 2016 AFF Cup, 29-year-old national team captain Safiq Rahim suddenly said goodbye to his international career. Not long after, Kunalan, Aidil Zafuan and Amirulhadi Zainal said goodbye to the Malaysian team. These are the names that have participated in many AFF Cups with the Malaysian team, of which 3 names have just turned 29 and 1 player is 30 years old - the age of maturity of a football career. These are all players belonging to the Johor Darul Ta'zim Club (JDT) - a giant club in Malaysian football.

On the other hand, while the Vietnamese team has many players capable of scoring goals such as Cong Vinh, Van Quyet, Van Toan... with diverse playing styles, coach Ong Kim Swee's team mainly relies on "veterans" Mohd Amri and Safee Sali. Most notably, midfielder Mohd Amri is playing for Johor Darul Club with a salary of 85,000 ringgit/month (more than 430 million VND), and in his first match he scored a double against Cambodia.

The battle of wits between two teachers

Being in Myanmar and witnessing the hot weather, many Vietnamese journalists understood why Coach Huu Thang brought his team to Can Tho to play a friendly match with Avispa Fukuoka Club. Coach Huu Thang wanted to take advantage of the scorching hot days in the West. This was enough to show how well Coach Huu Thang prepared before entering the AFF Cup battle.

While coach Huu Thang remained loyal to the 4-4-1-1 tactic, coach Ong Kim Swee switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with only Ahmad Hazwan up front. Ong Kim Swee wanted the duo of Ahmad Fakri and Shahrul to control Xuan Truong, Vietnam's most dangerous player. For most of the first half, Malaysia advocated a mass defense, focusing on disrupting the Vietnamese team's style of play, penetrating deep into the left wing where Van Hoan was responsible.

The first half was notable with 4 yellow cards divided equally between the two teams, along with dozens of situations where players rushed into each other, followed by the referee stopping the match to give the players water due to the hot weather of 32 degrees Celsius. The most noteworthy technical situation was Trong Hoang's unfortunate miss after a pass from Xuan Truong. The Vietnamese team controlled the ball 53%, while Malaysia had 47%, but the goal that needed to be scored was not yet available.

Trong Hoang had an explosive second half.

Coach Huu Thang sent Thanh Luong and Cong Phuong onto the field to create a breakthrough, exerting their strength under the exhausting sun in Yangon. Vietnamese spectators at Thuwunna Stadium clearly heard Huu Thang asking the midfield to slow down so as not to be caught up in Malaysia's style of play. With skilled players, Xuan Truong, Trong Hoang, and Thanh Trung had several dangerous situations in front of goalkeeper Fahmi's goal. Meanwhile, Malaysia only had a few long-range shots that did not cause much trouble for Nguyen Manh.

Trong Hoang’s opening goal to make it 1-0 in the 80th minute seemed to be in the calculation of the coach from Nghe An, when Malaysia needed to rush forward to find 3 points. From Xuan Truong’s cross, within the 16m50 box, Trong Hoang “attacked left and right” and fired a shot to score from close range in the “forest” of opponents’ feet.

To protect the score, coach Huu Thang directed the front line to hold the ball to pull the Malaysian formation down, while Hoang Thinh and Dinh Luat had to fight hard to protect the fragile score. After conceding the goal, the Malaysian players played very roughly, forcing Hoang Thinh and Thanh Luong to be carried off on a stretcher. In the final minutes, Huu Thang even had to take Xuan Truong out and change the formation to 4-3-2-1 to ensure a hard-fought second victory.

The Vietnamese team still needs to improve their scoring skills. If Cong Phuong had been more disciplined at the end of the match, we would have had a bigger victory. But that alone shows Huu Thang's talent in the AFC Cup arena.

An Thanh