On December 8, the Southeast Asian Football Championship (ASEAN Cup 2024) officially kicked off. Before the match, the teams announced their list of players to focus on. Many stars were absent from strong teams like Indonesia. Thailand and Malaysia also found it difficult to call up their best players. Meanwhile, Vietnam is a rare championship candidate with enough stars but has problems with performance.
AFF Cup lacks stars
On November 25, the Indonesian team surprised everyone with the 33-man list for the 2024 AFF Cup. Even stars playing in the domestic league such as Rizky Ridho, Ernado Ari, Witan Sulaeman, Jakob Sayuri,... were absent. Marselino Ferdinan, Rafael Struick, Ivar Jenner, Justin Hubner, Asnawi Mangkualam, Arhan Pratama are the rare players with clear roles in the national team to be included.
Rizky Ridho will not participate in AFF Cup 2024.
There are many reasons why coach Shin Tae-yong has to build the above list. It is not that Mr. Shin "dislikes" the AFF Cup 2024 because this coach himself has not had any notable titles in Southeast Asia. But the strategy of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) wants to use the group of players aged U22 to prepare for the 33rd SEA Games in 2025.
Still calling some players "hardcore" shows that Indonesia does not want to go home empty-handed. They set a goal for young players to learn but also do not want to lose heavily, especially to the Vietnamese team. PSSI's decision on personnel has met with much controversy. Indonesian fans understand that players of European origin will have difficulty playing in the AFF Cup, but local talents can. However, the Indonesian championship still takes place and clubs have "excuses" to refuse to release players to the national team.
In Thailand, a similar story happened when the Golden Temple team just removed 10 stars from the November 2024 training session. Coach Masatada Ishii wanted to prepare the Thai team to play without Chananthip, Theerathon Bunmathan or Supachai Chaided. The Thai League continued to compete and not everyone was ready to join the team for the Southeast Asian tournament.
Even Singapore and the Philippines have many key players in Thailand and the fighting power of these teams will seriously decline if the clubs insist on keeping their players.
AFF Cup still... attractive?
In that situation, the Vietnamese team became the championship candidate with the best force. Apart from a few pillars absent due to poor performance, the best names were all called up. Coach Kim Sang-sik faces a big challenge in his career. If he fails to reach the final of the tournament, the former Korean player will be fired by the Vietnam Football Federation.
Vietnam team is the championship candidate.
In other teams, although not having the strongest force, most of the strong teams such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia still aim to reach the final. To be more precise, the appeal, tension and competition of the AFF Cup 2024 have not decreased. The players are younger but determined to surpass their seniors. Many of them are considered the future of Thai and Indonesian football.
However, it must be frankly acknowledged that the professional quality of the AFF Cup 2024 is unlikely to reach the same high standards as many previous tournaments.
Occasionally, there are years when the wave of not calling up key players and calling up many young stars to participate in the Southeast Asian tournament appears. But then, when the achievements in the region are not guaranteed and the dream of reaching the big sea comes nowhere, the federations "frenzied" to bring the best to the next AFF Cup.
For a long time, Thailand and Indonesia have shown their superiority over Vietnam. But if Kim Sang-sik and his team can defeat their opponents with a "destructive" result, the 2026 AFF Cup could become much more attractive. There could even be an "arms race" in naturalization among Southeast Asian countries.
In the immediate future, the AFF Cup 2024 will become a valuable opportunity for coach Kim Sang-sik to rebuild the bricks of trust for fans.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/vang-nhieu-ngoi-sao-aff-cup-2024-lieu-con-du-suc-nong-ar909621.html
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