Vietnam - Malaysia: The Malaysian flower dream is gone?

In the pre-match press conference, coach Tan Cheng Hoe said: "I watched Vietnam's performance in the win over Indonesia. Vietnam played well, won 4-0 and are clearly very confident now.

However, Malaysia has had a week of preparation and the players have recovered very well. I know my players have a dream of beating Vietnam. Confidence is very important. We have trained well to be ready for this match."

The first leg match between the two teams at My Dinh Stadium in October 2019. Photo: Hai Dang

Through the statement of coach Tan Cheng Hoe, it can be seen that,Malaysiawill do everything to win all 3 points against Vietnam and thereby hold on to the fragile hope in the journey to conquer a ticket to play in the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia. Just need to overcome Vietnam in the match taking place at 11:45 p.m. today (June 11), "the Malaysian Tigers" will light up the opportunity to win the No. 2 position in Group G when in the final match, Vietnam and UAE have to face each other.

In theory, the goal of defeating Vietnam is within reach of coach Tan Cheng Hoe and his team. Because entering the match with the reigning AFF Cup champions, Malaysia did not suffer any serious losses in terms of force.

Even in the last match, which took place on June 7, Aidil Zafuan and his teammates were able to "sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight". Objectively speaking, Malaysia is having quite good preparation for the match with Vietnam, even though they lost to the host team UAE with a score of 0-4 in the opening match (June 3).

Vietnam will welcome the return of Nguyen Trong Hoang. Photo: Duy Nam

On the other side of the front line, Vietnam is facing personnel problems. In addition to the unfortunate absence of Nguyen Quang Hai (suspension), the possibility of the duo Nguyen Tuan Anh - Nguyen Van Toan playing is also uncertain. If the two players mentioned above have to sit out, Vietnam's strength will be greatly reduced. Not to mention, the hot weather in the UAE and the extremely fierce tackles of the Indonesian players in the previous match have greatly affected the physical foundation of Phan Van Duc and his teammates.

That does not mean that coach Park Hang-seo and his team did not receive any great encouragement for the crucial match with Malaysia. The return of two important pillars, Tran Dinh Trong and Nguyen Trong Hoang, has helped coach Park to have less of a headache in "arranging the troops". In addition, the "golden star warriors" also have an excited spirit, thanks to the convincing "4-star" victory over Indonesia in the match that took place 4 days ago.

In short, with what they have in hand, Coach Park Hang-seo and his team are rated higher than their Malaysian counterparts in terms of winning chances. And don’t forget that in the last 4 meetings between the two teams, Vietnam has had very positive results with 3 wins and 1 draw. It seems that Coach Tan Cheng Hoe and his team’s dream of defeating Vietnam will continue to be shattered./.