The Indonesian team will be stronger.
After the failure in the 2023 Asian Cup, the Vietnamese team will return to the 2026 World Cup qualifying round 2. After the first 2 rounds, coach Philippe Troussier and his team have 3 points, temporarily ranking second in the group.
However, if Vietnam fails to gain at least 2 points in the 2 matches against Indonesia next month, the Vietnamese team will lose second place to Indonesia (or the Philippines), leading to a disadvantage in the race for a ticket to the 3rd qualifying round.
There are two things to worry about for the Vietnamese team. First of all, Indonesia has ended a 7-year streak of draws and losses against Vietnam, when it defeated Coach Troussier's team with a score of 1-0 in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup. This victory has helped Indonesia gain more morale.
Vietnam team to play Indonesia again
On the other hand, the Indonesian team will be even stronger, as the door to naturalization is being opened by the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI). At the Asian Cup, Indonesia fielded 7 naturalized stars when facing Vietnam. In the next match, the number could increase to... 13 players, as the PSSI has completed the naturalization procedures for 6 more players.
The common point of Indonesian naturalized players is that they have an ideal physique (over 1.85 m tall), are playing in developed football backgrounds (mostly in England and the Netherlands), many of these players are very young, therefore rich in physical strength, desire and fighting spirit.
With an open naturalization policy, the Indonesian team is more like a club than a pure national team. Because coach Shin Tae-yong can recruit new players and refresh the squad at any time, instead of having to work with a fixed force of players.
This is a huge challenge for the Vietnamese team, which has many problems from playing style, human quality to adaptability that coach Troussier has not been able to solve in the past year.
The Indonesian national team is continuously strengthened by naturalized stars.
Fire tests gold
Besides analyzing and dissecting Indonesia's playing style, it is important that the Vietnamese team upgrades itself, first of all in terms of physical strength.
Coach Troussier emphasized that Vietnamese players can only run well for about 65 to 70 minutes, after which they will fall into a state of fatigue and easily make personal mistakes. The proof is that in the defeats to Japan and Iraq at the Asian Cup, Mr. Troussier's students always conceded goals in the last 5 to 10 minutes of the match.
In the 0-1 defeat to Iraq in the World Cup qualifiers, the Vietnamese team also lost at the last second. In this match, Mr. Troussier even had to use all his substitutions because his players were exhausted, even though the clock had not yet passed the 70th minute.
Poor physical fitness is a weakness that has long been pointed out in the Vietnamese team. Coach Troussier explained many reasons, including the fact that Vietnamese players only play domestically, are not used to the high intensity of competition in Asia, many key players are losing form, no longer have the desire, the young players are inexperienced so they do not know how to distribute their physical strength...
But above all, it is clear that the style of play that emphasizes control and fierce pressing that the French coach is currently implementing requires a higher physical ceiling than the real ability of his students, leading to the players trying but not being able to meet it.
Quang Hai has not been able to demonstrate his ability in Mr. Troussier's tactical system.
Finding a playing style that is more suitable for the players' physical condition, instead of waiting for the players to improve their physical condition to meet the requirements (which is very difficult due to limited preparation time) is what Coach Troussier should do.
In addition, the Vietnamese team is lacking players with good physique to counter Indonesia's aerial weapons. In the context of the opponent possessing brave "poles" in the air, Coach Troussier's students need to strengthen their ability to compete, collide and cover each other effectively.
Phan Tuan Tai's central defender position needs to be reconsidered. Tuan Tai is a favorite of Coach Troussier, trusted by him from U.19, U.22 to the national team even though this player has made many mistakes and has poor fighting ability. When Que Ngoc Hai returns, the French coach will have "powder" to "wash" to make the defense more solid.
Finally, the Vietnamese team needs to stabilize their fighting spirit. With a young squad, Vietnam often plays well against strong opponents, but is confused when playing "do-or-die" matches with a team of equal strength like Indonesia. In fact, the Indonesian team is also young, also has the potential to make mistakes with many shortcomings (as evidenced by Indonesia losing 6 out of the last 7 matches).
The Vietnamese team needs to have the confidence to win and the courage to stay calm through the crucial moment, instead of being hasty and leading to chaos like in the Asian Cup match. This, perhaps, fans will also expect from Coach Troussier.
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