Nguyen Filip makes Dinh Trieu's position shaky

Nguyen Filip creates interesting competition with Dinh Trieu - Photo: CAHN FC .

In this training session, in the goalkeeper position, coach Kim Sang-sik still called three familiar names including Nguyen Filip (CAHN), Nguyen Dinh Trieu ( Hai Phong ) and Tran Trung Kien (HAGL).

However, with his young age and main goal of gaining experience, Trung Kien is considered an investment for the future. The number 1 position in the goal is currently a competition between Nguyen Filip and Nguyen Dinh Trieu.

Dinh Trieu was once trusted by coach Kim Sang-sik to be the main goalkeeper at the ASEAN Cup 2024. He played in 6/8 matches, making an important contribution to the championship of the Vietnamese team. His stable performance, good judgment and understanding with the defense helped Dinh Trieu gain the trust of the coaching staff.

At the club level, the goalkeeper born in 1991 continues to maintain his form in Hai Phong's shirt. Dinh Trieu just had a good performance when helping Hai Phong bring home 1 point in the away match against The Cong Viettel in round 24 of V.League 2024/25 and received high praise from the home team's coach.

“Dinh Trieu deserves to be the number 1 of the Vietnam team. He made many important saves, especially in the first half and early in the second half,” coach Popov said about the goalkeeper of the Hai Phong team.

However, Nguyen Filip is creating great pressure for Dinh Trieu's No. 1 position. The goalkeeper born in 1992 once won the title of best player in Fortuna Liga, the Czech Republic national championship. He has nearly a decade of playing in Europe, both in terms of expertise, playing experience and footwork skills, Nguyen Filip is superior to the current average Vietnamese goalkeeper.

However, in the Vietnam team under coach Kim Sang-sik, goalkeeper coach Lee Woon-jae did not highly appreciate Nguyen Filip's ability to communicate and command the defense.

This is a common weakness of overseas Vietnamese players who are not used to the domestic competition environment and have limited language skills. But in the past two months, Filip has gradually asserted his class with excellent performances.

Nguyen Filip is in impressive form for CAHN - Photo: CAHN FC.

Nguyen Filip's peak performance was most clearly demonstrated in the second leg of the Southeast Asian Club Cup final between CAHN and Buriram United. Facing the terrible pressure from the Thai representative's attack, Nguyen Filip still maintained a cool calmness.

He absolutely dominated the penalty area, had quick reflexes with diving saves using his fingertips, entered and exited steadily and especially successfully blocked two shots in the penalty shootout. Although CAHN failed on the 11m mark when his teammates missed three shots, Nguyen Filip personally had a nearly perfect match. He launched good attacks thanks to his accurate long passing skills.

That is an affirmation of the ability and competitive spirit of the goalkeeper who used to play in Europe. In the last 8 matches, Nguyen Filip kept a clean sheet in 6 matches and made 23 saves. Meanwhile, Dinh Trieu is still a stable and safe choice with his inherent qualities.

But the question is whether safety is enough for him to maintain the No. 1 position when Nguyen Filip is exploding? Coach Kim Sang-sik will certainly have to consider carefully.

If prioritizing experience and understanding with the current defense, Dinh Trieu is still the top candidate. But if looking for a breakthrough, Nguyen Filip's superior physique, reflexes and footwork could be the deciding factor, especially in matches against strong opponents.

At present, both Nguyen Filip and Dinh Trieu are in good form. That is a positive sign for the Vietnam team. The competition between two quality goalkeepers will help improve the professional level, creating more depth in the squad, especially when the team is about to enter an important match with Malaysia, or aiming for bigger goals.

Regardless of who is chosen to start, the most important thing is that the Vietnamese team has more quality options in goal, which has been a weakness for many years. If Nguyen Filip continues to maintain his "possessed" form as he has shown, the No. 1 position can completely change hands.

Source: https://znews.vn/nguyen-filip-khien-vi-tri-cua-dinh-trieu-lung-lay-post1555354.html