Vietnam – Myanmar: Paving the way to the semi-finals?

*Vietnam – Myanmar: 19:00 on Friday, May 13, on VnExpress.

After the opening match beat Indonesia 3-0Vietnam suddenly stopped. Although starting with Nguyen Tien Linh and Nham Manh Dung, with the support of the best midfield pair in national football today, Do Hung Dung – Nguyen Hoang Duc, the host still “gives up” before the Philippines plays defensive numbers. bold, determined and persistent throughout the match. The rain made the pitch slippery and the ball was wet, which also partly affected the gameplay of Vietnam.

Currently, with four points after two matches, coach Park Hang-seo’s team is in third place with a good position because there are two games left, but certainly not as high as fans’ expectations. This year, the team entered the tournament as the defending champion, in addition to the home field advantage.

According to expert Phan Anh Tu, the problems that Vietnam faces are typical of young teams, in which the stability of the players is the most prominent. “Young players still lack bravery, sometimes in a hurry to handle, especially in the stage of adjusting the pace of the game and finishing,” he said.

However, the former acting general secretary of VFF is optimistic that through each match, Vietnam will realize the points that need to be improved to upgrade the gameplay, because the team possesses many good factors and the gameplay is similar to the collectives. that Coach Park built. And Myanmar is an opportunity for them to show that necessary “improvement”.

Myanmar howl start with a tight 3-2 victory in injury time against the weakest opponent in the table, Timor Leste. But, it was they who took down Philippines 3-2 to rise to the top of the table with six perfect points. In the current position, Myanmar is likely to choose to play with the majority to defend and wait for a counterattack from Vietnam’s mistakes. What the Philippines did before the host can be copied by coach Popov’s army.

So, what is the solution for Vietnam? It is most likely a high ball, because all four goals conceded by Myanmar in this tournament were from free kicks. With tall players like Viet Anh, Thanh Binh, Manh Dung or Tien Linh, this option is completely feasible. A competitive advantage of Vietnam is the two more vacations compared to Myanmar.

In recent training sessions, Coach Park has shown that it is possible to adjust two positions. In the match against the Philippines, Tien Long kicked the left-back, letting Tuan Tai kick the left-back. But today it is likely that Tuan Tai will return to the position of left-back center back to pair with Viet Anh and Thanh Binh, returning the edge to Van Xuan like the 3-0 win over Indonesia. Vice-captain Hoang Anh has also recovered, and will return to the starting lineup to replace Cong To. On the offensive front, Manh Dung may have to give up the main kick to Van Tung.

In the past, Vietnam dominated the confrontation record compared to Myanmar in the U23 age group. In the last four encounters, the team won three and kept a clean sheet. The last time they lost to Singapore was at the 201 SEA Games, where coach Toshiya Miura’s team at that time played overwhelmingly, creating a lot of opportunities but lost 1-2. That past must not be repeated, if Vietnam wants to open the door to the semi-finals of this year’s SEA Games.

Probable teams

Vietnam: Van Toan, Van Do, Viet Anh, Thanh Binh, Tuan Tai, Van Xuan, Hung Dung, Hoang Anh, Hoang Duc, Tien Linh, Van Tung.

Myanmar: Pyae Phyo Thu, Aung Wunna Soe, Soe Moe Kyaw, Thet Hein Soe, Hein Zeyar Lin, Yan Kyaw Soe, Zaw Win Thein, Lwin Moe Aung, Htet Phyoe Wai, Myat Kaung Khant, Win Naing Tun.

Lam Tho