Vietnam national team shouldn't play with fire.

The Vietnamese national team secured a 3-1 victory against Nepal in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Does coach Kim Sang-sik have great respect for Nepal? Yes, it must be said that the head coach of the Vietnamese national team showed great caution and highly regarded the opponent. The proof is that he fielded his strongest lineup.

In defense, instead of new names like Hieu Minh and Nhat Minh, Coach Kim used experienced international center-backs with high professional skills and great battlefield experience, including Tien Dung, Duy Manh, and Quang Vinh. Further up the field, the Vietnamese national team's defense was further protected by other seasoned players such as Xuan Manh, Thanh Long, and Hoang Duc, with only Tien Anh being relatively inexperienced.

Throughout the match, Nepal only had two shots on goal against Vietnam. However, those were truly situations that should have angered Vietnamese fans.

First, we must mention Nepal's equalizer from a set piece. The Vietnamese team had a large number of players in the 16.5-meter area, while Nepal had less than half the number of players compared to the home team. However, Sanish Shrestha easily moved to leap and head the ball into the net.

The most obvious mistake in this goal was Duy Mạnh's; the central defender pressed but lacked the necessary strength and appeared to be distracted, resulting in poor jumping ability, allowing Sanish Shrestha to leap more than a head higher and easily beat goalkeeper Văn Lâm.

Although it didn't result in a goal, another heart-stopping moment occurred in the 54th minute. Quang Vinh passed the ball back, and Xuan Manh lost concentration, allowing the Nepalese striker to pounce and create a dangerous scoring opportunity.

The Vietnamese team needs to play with more focus.

Duy Mạnh and Văn Lâm then also found themselves in a passive position, creating a very dangerous threatening situation. Fortunately, the Nepalese player's ball handling was poor, causing him to miss a clear scoring opportunity. If the opponent had scored from this systematic mistake to take a 2-1 lead, the Vietnamese team could have been in a chaotic situation and might not have been able to secure the victory.

Of course, demanding perfection for Vietnam throughout the 90 minutes is too strict, but clearly, allowing those two mistakes to happen is unacceptable, especially against an opponent among the weakest in the world like Nepal. If they had faced a higher-level opponent, Vietnam's defense might have paid the price in both situations, and might even have revealed more errors, potentially leading to a different outcome for the match.

Speaking after the match, coach Kim Sang Sik also admitted that the Vietnamese national team's defense did not perform as effectively as expected, making mistakes and lacking concentration, leaving the team's goal vulnerable despite Nepal only controlling the ball 25% of the time. This is something Duy Mạnh and his teammates must not repeat. It is unacceptable for a group of experienced, internationally renowned players to make mistakes like novices, especially against a much weaker opponent.