2022 World Cup Qualifiers: Eager to retaliate, the Thais may fall into Coach Park's 'trap'

Considering the balance of power between Thailand and Vietnam at this time, the Thais must have more headaches than Coach Park Hang-seo and his team. First, although Coach Nishino Akira is of a very high level, his understanding of the Thai players is only at a relative level because he has not had much time to work with them in official matches and has only had more than a week to prepare for the match against the Vietnamese team.

Besides, in the past, Coach Nishino has never worked abroad and the Japanese coach is "gambling" with his reputation in this attempt in Thailand. And what he prepared for the recent encounter with Vietnam shows his caution on the debut day.

The call-up of two strikers Supachai Jaided (Buriram United) and Chananan Pombuppha (True Bangkok United) for use in the first two matches of the World Cup qualifiers also surprised many Thai fans. Chananan (27 years old) has not scored any goals for the national team after 9 appearances, while Supachai has not made any significant mark when facing the Vietnamese national team. The most notable mark of this striker was the cold-blooded attack on Dinh Trong at My Dinh Stadium in the U23 Asia qualifiers and received a red card in the 0-4 defeat of U23 Thailand that day.

Thailand was defeated by Vietnam at both the King's Cup and the 2019 AFF Women's Football Championship that just ended in Chonburi. The Thais obviously want to get back both the principal and interest, however, as a general, the Japanese coach cannot take any risks.

As for the Vietnamese team, coach Park Hang-seo has every reason to be more confident than his opponent. In addition to their "upward fortune" over the past two years, Vietnam has continuously surpassed Thailand on all fronts. Under the Korean coach, Vietnam has won all matches against U23 Thailand (2 matches) and the Thai national team (1 match).

With the news that Trong Hoang and Van Hau are injured and may not recover in time for the match against Thailand, this could be a "wind blow" from the Korean coach. "I will wait for the doctors' announcement about their injuries. I am not someone who gives up easily," coach Park Hang-seo said when referring to these wings. Obviously, there is still about 1 week for both of them to race against time and the feeling right now shows that they can completely play. Especially with Van Hau, the situation is even more positive.

With a stable squad, Coach Park Hang-seo has no reason to fear the Thais. Even though the opponent has the return of Chanathip, the Vietnamese team is not weaker with Quang Hai and Hung Dung in good form with Hanoi FC.

The mental advantage even leans towards Coach Park Hang-seo’s students because Thailand is very easy to fall into the trap because they are eager to retaliate. The Thai people want to regain the position of “King of ASEAN” that they proudly display banners in every stadium they visit in the region. This is also a heavy pressure on Coach Nishino’s teachers and students as well as the fans and football officials of this country. Therefore, the Thai media is full of reasons to be skeptical about the upcoming victory of the home team instead of the previous meetings between the two teams.

Coach Park Hang-seo knows full well the opponent he will face on the evening of September 5th and Thailand will find it difficult to "transform" after just the debut match with Coach Nishino. With his personality, the Korean coach did not hesitate to set the goal of 3 points for Vietnam.

However, on away ground, Thailand still has the home field advantage. Especially in this confrontation, there is no reason to "blame" when the balance of power between the two football backgrounds is balanced. An opening match but can affect the future achievements of both teams in the arena that both dream of reaching - the FIFA World Cup.