Vietnam vs Cambodia: Last chance for Bui Tien Dung guys?

The Vietnam team will enter the final match in Group A.AFF Cup 2018 tonight (November 24). Although Cambodia has declared their determination, their motivation to compete is still a big question mark.

The away team only has 3 points and is definitely eliminated. Head coach and inspiration Keisuke Honda is absent. That shows that the confrontation with Vietnam is not too important for Cambodian football.

That context was the first and almost last chance for reserve players of the Vietnamese team such as Bui Tien Dung, Ha Duc Chinh or Nguyen Huy Hung to play.

The AFF Cup 2018 has gone almost halfway. After 3 matches, Coach Park Hang-seo has only used 17 players. There are still 6 names that have never played in the Vietnam national team. They are the pair named Tien Dung, Hong Duy, Duc Chinh, Xuan Hung and veteran goalkeeper Tuan Manh.

There are two reasons why Mr. Park Hang-seo has not been able to create conditions for this group of students.

Firstly, the level gap between them and the main squad is quite large. In attack, Duc Chinh is difficult to compare with Cong Phuong and Anh Duc - who have scored 2 goals after 3 matches. In defense, Dang Van Lam is still too excellent while Trong Hoang and Van Duc are both playing very well. The only regret is for center-back Bui Tien Dung. He was originally one of the three official center-backs of U23 Vietnam in the Asian tournament and ASIAD, but injury and the appearance of Que Ngoc Hai caused Dung to lose his position.

Second, the journey to the AFF Cup 2018 was more difficult than the team and fans had initially expected. Before the tournament started, not many people thought that the current Asian runner-up, the fourth-placed team of ASIAD, would have to defend against Malaysia, be held to a draw by Myanmar and currently only be in second place after three matches.

These things forced coach Park Hang-seo to field his strongest lineup in all three first rounds. The chance for the reserve team therefore has not appeared yet.

But tonight, that opportunity presented itself.

As analyzed, Cambodia is the last match of the Vietnam team in the group stage. If Van Quyet and his teammates reach the final, they will have to play 4 more extremely tense knockout matches. At that time, there will be no more experiments. If Mr. Park wants to aim for the long term, the 90 minutes against Cambodia is the ideal time for Tien Dung and Hong Duy.

Remember in the AFF Cup 2016, also in the final match, Coach Huu Thang changed many positions, putting on the field a series of reserve players such as Au Van Hoan, Le Van Thang, Cong Phuong (two years ago, Phuong was the reserve for the pair Van Quyet and Cong Vinh). In that match, the Vietnamese team lost a player in the 7th minute after Dinh Luat's red card but still won 2-1 thanks to Cong Vinh's high performance.

In the last three meetings, Vietnam also won all three matches against Cambodia, scoring 9 goals and only conceding 2. The most recent match was in October 2017, when Vietnam destroyed Cambodia 5-0. The three scorers in that match are still present today: Van Quyet, Cong Phuong, Anh Duc.

That means even if they change the entire lineup, Vietnam is still in a better position than Cambodia. Coach Park Hang-seo's team will win, even win big. If Malaysia can do the same at their home stadium Bukit Jalil, the top spot will belong to Coach Park Hang-seo and his students.