Who is Doan Ngoc Tan fighting against?

The midfield is crowded.

The familiar midfield formation of the Vietnamese national team under coach Kim Sang-sik is to deploy two central midfielders, but one of these two midfielders will be Nguyen Hoang Duc, a technically gifted player who is responsible for controlling the team's play. The other central midfielder, playing alongside Hoang Duc, will therefore act as a defensive midfielder, responsible for contesting the ball with opposing players and providing defensive support from afar for the team.

Doan Ngoc Tan (25) is no longer alone in the defensive midfielder position.

At the 2024 AFF Cup, Doan Ngoc Tan played as a defensive midfielder. He performed very successfully and effectively in tackles. However, at the same time, Doan Ngoc Tan was almost the only defensive midfielder on the Vietnamese national team's roster for the 2024 AFF Cup. Fortunately, he did not suffer any injuries or suspensions in important matches, so Ngoc Tan contributed consistently to the team throughout the tournament.

However, coach Kim Sang-sik recognized the "thinness" of players in the aforementioned position. Therefore, in the Vietnamese national team's squad preparing for the FIFA Days matches in March (against Cambodia on March 19th and against Laos on March 25th), the South Korean coach called up four players capable of playing in the defensive midfield position: Doan Ngoc Tan, Nguyen Thai Son, Trieu Viet Hung, and Tran Bao Toan.

High degree of continuity within the team.

These players all possess excellent physical fitness and are skilled at tackling. Importantly, each of them tends to play to support the star players close to them, readily engaging in aggressive play to win the ball back from opponents, then calmly passing it to their closest playmaker. This is exactly what coach Kim Sang-sik needs. He already has many talented midfielders like Hoang Duc, Quang Hai, Minh Khoa, and Hai Long; now he needs more "strongmen" to balance technical skill and physical prowess.

Midfielder Thai Son returns to the national team.

The more players available to play in the defensive midfield position, the higher the competition for this position within the Vietnamese national team. At the same time, coach Kim Sang-sik can now rest assured that he has personnel ready to replace Doan Ngoc Tan when needed, in case the player underperforms, suffers an injury, or receives a suspension.

The important thing is that Trieu Viet Hung (28 years old), Tran Bao Toan (25 years old), and Nguyen Thai Son (22 years old) all have long-term value and can serve the Vietnamese national team throughout the 2027 Asian Cup (from the qualifiers to the finals, if Vietnam qualifies for the finals) and the 2030 World Cup qualifying campaign (starting in 2028), if they prove their abilities.

That's also how coach Kim Sang-sik is building a successor generation for the Vietnamese national team. Former Vice President of Professional Affairs of the VFF, Duong Vu Lam, commented on this: "The continuity and consistency of the Vietnamese national team's squad lies in the fact that the current core will still consist of experienced players who were successful in the 2024 AFF Cup. However, the Vietnamese team will also have young players. Experienced players, the senior players, will guide the younger players, helping them gradually accumulate experience and mature. Then, when the senior players retire due to age in a few years, the Vietnamese national team will have a new generation of players ready to replace them."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/canh-tranh-khoc-liet-o-vi-tri-kho-nhat-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-doan-ngoc-tan-dau-ai-185250308132730407.htm