According to Sofascore , Hoang Duc's "possession lost" index is up to 22, the highest in the Vietnam team. Many social networking sites and forums related to domestic football re-shared this number and assessed that the midfielder of Ninh Binh Club did not play well.
Hoang Duc encountered some difficulties when the Lao players played fiercely.
Hoang Duc did not make much of an impression, but that does not mean he played badly.
In addition, Hoang Duc was also criticized for his poor one-on-one performance. He only won 6 out of 14 one-on-ones, achieving a success rate of nearly 43%. These are quite modest numbers. His overall performance also only reached 6.9 points, lower than many of his teammates in the Vietnam team.
We need to look at the game and tactics that coach Kim Sang-sik proposed to have the most impartial perspective.
What is the truth?
Let’s look back at what coach Kim Sang-sik said in the post-match press conference. He said: “Laos play with a deep defence and we need to find a way to break that. I want players to penetrate the space behind the defence. In the first half, the Vietnamese team created many chances but were unlucky. I can confirm that the players played well. They did exactly what they had practiced but unfortunately they could not make the most of their chances.”
Evaluating the strength of Vietnam's opponents at AFF Cup 2024
There are two points that need to be unpacked. First, coach Kim Sang-sik said he wanted his players to penetrate the space behind the opponent’s defense. To do this, he asked his players to make a lot of long passes. Hoang Duc, one of the best long passers on the team, was the one who took on this task. And when a player makes a lot of long passes, it is understandable that their pass failure rate is higher. Because for a long pass to be considered accurate, both the passer and the control player must execute it correctly.
Next, coach Kim Sang-sik recognized the players for playing well and implementing the tactical requirements. In fact, Hoang Duc also did quite well. He had many accurate passes for the two full-backs Tien Anh and Van Khang to run up. In particular, the most notable was the phase where Hoang Duc passed the ball long to the right wing, creating conditions for Tien Anh to cross the ball for Vi Hao to run in and head the ball close to the goal at the beginning of the first half. It's just a pity that the attacking moves from Hoang Duc's feet did not help the Vietnamese team score.
Another thing is that Hoang Duc is not allowed to play in his best position. He is no longer allowed to play as an attacking midfielder, to move freely near the opponent's penalty area to develop his strengths such as dribbling, passing or finishing, as he has shown at The Cong Viettel or Ninh Binh clubs. Instead, he plays the lowest position in the midfield of the Vietnam national team, playing the role of "dealer" so that Ngoc Tan and Hai Long can move higher. At that time, he falls into a situation where he has to fight more one-on-one, which is not a strong point of this midfielder.
In addition, Hoang Duc has not had much time to play with his midfield partners like Ngoc Tan and Hai Long, so the understanding and smoothness have not appeared. This has improved significantly when Quang Hai entered the field.
Overall, Hoang Duc is still an important link in the Vietnam team at the AFF Cup 2024, still contributing a lot to the overall gameplay. He accepts to retreat deeper, having less "glory" to serve the team, which is also a valuable thing.
Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 is broadcast live and in full on FPT Play, at: http://fptplay.vn
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