Vietnam team at a disadvantage before the match against Malaysia

Vietnam team and physical concerns before the match with Malaysia.

The Vietnam national team officially gathered yesterday (May 29) to prepare for the match against Malaysia. However, the gathering of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team still could not have enough players due to the V.League make-up schedule of the clubs.

Specifically, four players on the CAHN roster, including goalkeeper Nguyen Filip, Cao Pendant Quang Vinh, Bui Hoang Viet Anh and Nguyen Quang Hai, have two make-up matches against Binh Duong on May 30 and Binh Dinh on June 3. This group of players can only gather on June 4 at the earliest, which is only 4 days before the match against Malaysia. This means that the 4 players of CAHN have to go through a very short period of time to recover and integrate into the tactics.

Previously, CAHN players had just gone through the 120-minute second leg of the Southeast Asian Cup final against Buriram United in Thailand. In addition to the long travel distance, having to compete continuously is wearing down the players' form and fitness. The 0-2 loss to Hanoi in round 24 of the V.League, despite having an extra player from the 63rd minute, is clear evidence of the physical decline of this group of players.

The same situation happened to Nguyen Tien Linh and Vo Tran Minh Khoa of Binh Duong Club. These two players will have to play a make-up match against CAHN on May 30, and only have about a week to prepare with the national team. With the current tight schedule, the physical strength of the pillars is a difficult problem for the team's coaching staff.

Malaysia has an impressive run-up before playing against Vietnam - Photo: FAM.

Not only that, some other players such as Duy Manh, Hai Long, Van Vi or Hoang Duc also had almost no days off after round 24. They immediately went to Malaysia to attend the friendly match between ASEAN All-Stars and Manchester United, then traveled back to Vietnam to join the Vietnam team. Continuous travel and no time to rest increased the risk of injury or overload.

On the other hand, the Malaysian team has a clear advantage in terms of strength and preparation time. Coach Peter Cklamovski’s team gathered on May 18, nearly two weeks earlier than the Vietnamese team. During this time, they had a friendly match with Cape Verde and drew 1-1.

More notably, Malaysia has a quality squad of naturalized players with at least 13 names of foreign origin. In addition, they also have key players in the squad such as Corbin-Ong, Matthew Davies, Shahrul Saad or Endrick Dos Santos. Most of these players have known each other in recent major tournaments, helping the Malaysian team maintain stability in squad and tactics.

With the current situation, coach Kim Sang-sik will face many challenges in terms of personnel in the coming days. The lack of time to assemble the squad and the lack of fitness of many key players have made the preparation for the match against Malaysia at Bukit Jalil Stadium on June 10 difficult. Meanwhile, the opponent is ready and has great stability in terms of force and form.

Source: https://znews.vn/tuyen-viet-nam-bat-loi-truoc-them-dau-malaysia-post1556904.html