Expert: "Indonesia is closer to Asian level than Vietnam team"

(Dan Tri) - Expert Doan Minh Xuong commented that the Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai teams have not yet caught up with the Asian level, but temporarily, coach Shin Tae Yong and his team are closer to the continental level than us.

Vietnam team is changing positively

How do you evaluate the performance of the Vietnamese team in the two recent matches against the Philippines and Iraq? - The results of these two matches truly reflect the level and strength of Vietnamese football today. When competing with Southeast Asian opponents, specifically the Philippines, we played offensively, controlled the ball, controlled the match and won. But when facing an opponent of Asian level, Iraq, the Vietnamese team honestly had no chance of winning. Looking closely at ourselves, the Vietnamese team showed positive traits in the two recent matches, after a period of almost lifeless play in the past few months. The players generally tried their best to play, bringing new lines to the Vietnamese team's playing style.

The Vietnamese team has shown positive changes in recent matches (Photo: VFF).

What exactly is that positive factor, sir? - We used to worry that veteran players would no longer have the motivation to contribute after they had won so many glories in their careers, but through the last two matches, Quang Hai, Hoang Duc, Tien Linh, Van Toan, Hung Dung, Duy Manh... played with great determination. Each player himself wants to help Vietnamese football regain its position. Meanwhile, players who are not yet firmly established in the team, who have not had glory in the past such as Duc Chien, Khuat Van Khang, Thanh Binh are trying to rise up to find a place. This will create good competitive motivation. The current team is a combination of old players and new elements. The important thing is that the team spirit is very high. We see this spirit, see the efforts of both veteran players and new elements through the way the team was determined to win until the last minute against the Philippines.

Veteran players like Hoang Duc played very hard (Photo: VFF).

We were tied 2-2 at the end of that match, but we did not give up, determined to win and scored the winning goal 3-2 in extra time. Against Iraq, despite being at a disadvantage in terms of skill level and weather, the players did not give up. If the team's spirit was not good, they could not have played so fiercely!

Opportunities at AFF Cup 2024

With what has been shown, will the Vietnamese team have a chance at the AFF Cup at the end of this year? - The important thing is the preparation process, the plan for the team. First, it must be said that the physical strength of the Vietnamese players in the last 2 matches of the World Cup qualifiers is not in the best condition, the reason is because the players have just gone through a series of very dense matches in the V-League. Therefore, the preparation needs to be more scientific . Then the strategic issue from the calculation of coach Kim Sang Sik will be like? This strategy can decide the achievement of the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup.

The Vietnamese team is capable of defeating teams in the Southeast Asian region (Photo: Do ​​Minh Quan).

It is clear that the Vietnamese team will compete for the top spot in Group B at the AFF Cup (including Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Laos) with Indonesia. If they prepare well and calculate correctly, the ticket to the AFF Cup final is within reach of the Vietnamese team. Speaking specifically about Indonesia, how is the Vietnamese team compared to the team from the archipelago country? The Vietnamese and Indonesian teams have faced the same opponents in the past two matches in the World Cup qualifiers? - They continue to progress and their strength is very remarkable. I can say that the image is like this, the Vietnamese and Indonesian teams have not yet reached the Asian level at the present time, but it seems that Indonesia is closer to the continental level than the Vietnamese team. In the match against the Philippines last night (June 11), Indonesia completely controlled the game. They played a very diverse attack, not as hard as the Vietnamese team a few days before. When Indonesia met Iraq on June 6, they played almost on par with the West Asian team in the first half.

Coach Kim Sang Sik is in the process of rebuilding the national team (Photo: Manh Quan).

That shows that the Indonesian team has made progress. However, after all, the Vietnamese team has just begun the rebuilding phase with new coach Kim Sang Sik, so we need time. Moreover, each match is different, the tactical intentions and the way the teams choose to enter each match are not the same. For example, Iraq, when visiting Indonesia on June 6, chose a tight defensive style of play in the first half, the highest goal in the first half of the match was to extinguish Indonesia's excitement when playing at home, then push up the squad and win in the second half. When Iraq hosted the Vietnamese team in Basra (Iraq) last night, they took the initiative to attack from the start, using a stronger force than the force they faced against Indonesia. In Southeast Asia, there is another very strong team, Thailand, which will also be a dangerous opponent for the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup 2024?

Besides Indonesia, Thailand is also a formidable opponent of the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup later this year (Photo: FAT).

- Thailand still maintains its strength, they are the team that caused the biggest regret when they could not win a ticket to the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. We saw that Thailand almost won against the Chinese team on the opponent's field on June 6. And yesterday, if the strikers of the Golden Temple team had finished well against Singapore, they would have scored more goals and surpassed the Chinese team to enter the third qualifying round of the World Cup. Another notable point is that both Thailand and Indonesia are conscious of building their forces according to the trend of modern football, that is, the vertical positions including goalkeeper, center back, central midfielder and very tall center forward. This is not a coincidence, showing that these two teams have long-term development plans. Thank you for the interview!

Coach Tran Cong Minh: "The current Vietnamese team plays more spontaneously and flexibly." The Vietnamese players play more cohesively than before. This is mainly due to the fact that many positions on the field are familiar with each other, and experienced players are used. The Vietnamese team now also plays more spontaneously than we did a few months ago.

Coach Kim Sang Sik is helping the Vietnamese team play more diversely (Photo: VFF).

This improvisation comes from the fact that the Vietnamese team under coach Kim Sang Sik is not bound to a certain formula or framework. The Vietnamese team's ball deployment lines are also not repetitive, instead there are more variations, depending on the developments on the field.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/chuyen-gia-indonesia-dang-o-gan-trinh-do-chau-a-hon-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-20240612130852945.htm