Just A Few Things: Vietnam Vs. Malaysia
Credit- Fox Sports Asia
Lethal Combination
We’ve faced them twice already, and yet somehow, we do not have answer to stifle Vietnam’s mind-boggling incisive and high-technical football. They were consistent throughout the whole tournament and never looked like they were going to get beaten in any way. Malaysia, despite their best efforts, couldn’t take down Park Hang-Seo’s side even though Harimau Malaya knew (We hope they knew) what Vietnam is capable of.
The fact that they got so many chances from their accurate passes and penetrating runs has been scary. Even though they sat deep, the way they attack and hold the ball to wait for support have been breathtaking. They knew how to get out of pressure from an opposition player within just a second and what’s more, they then somehow pull off a pass to their nearest teammate a second later. Our defence had to heightened their focus to a whole new level. Even then, there’s a chance it will be futile.
And what happens when we attack? Vietnam were fully prepared. Their back 5 and middle three compacted their final third making it difficult for us to get through. Not only that, they have the intelligence to read the game, getting close to any one of our players who is likely getting the ball next and further block us going forward. They did it when they beat us 2-0 and they did it again in the final.
Defensive football, particularly ‘Parking The Bus’, is frowned upon by neutrals and fans who nowadays want to see their team to attack, attack and attack. But Vietnam compensated their disciplined defending approach with adventurous attacks, especially in the counter. Solid defending and dangerous offense? A true recipe for winning matches and trophies. Vietnam is proof of that. After all, there’s a reason (Or rather two) why they’re in the top 100 national teams right now.
Fade In Yellow
It was the same approach Malaysia adopted the last two times: Playing that possession game with a short-pass approach. And just like the past two games against Vietnam, they tried their best to emerge from a dark hole of defeat to see the bright daylight of victory. After the final, however, Malaysia only saw their efforts paid off in the home leg of the final and unsuccessfully se that light.
Here, they failed to replicate the spirit shown back at Bukit Jalil. As the timer edged closer to the 90 minutes, Malaysia looked more and more accepting that this year’s Suzuki Cup isn’t theirs. Notable players sadly didn’t show up on the most important night in their careers. They simply just faded away, making Vietnam’s task a lot easier. Shahrul Saad’s second yellow card deep into injury time just rubbed more salt in our wounds and provided a bitter end to an otherwise great campaign for the Perak defender.
This was awfully uncharacteristic considering what we’ve seen from this team. We know they could’ve shown a lot more fight than they had. Was it just one of those days or was it that the atmosphere didn’t help them? We don’t know. But we do know they can perform a lot better than they did at Hanoi.
Nearsighted
That one word perfectly described the people at fault for Vietnam’s only goal in this leg. With Vietnam threatening, a through pass on the left-wing found Nguyen Quang Hai in the box. He then crossed it in for Nguyen Anh Duc with a half-volley to put Vietnam ahead after just five minutes, although Farizal Marlias perhaps could’ve done better. But, Malaysia has an absolute strong case that they felt injustice served to them. Replays showed that Quang Hai was offside, and it wasn’t even close. He was clearly behind the last defender and it’s astonishingly baffling that the linesman missed this. Hopefully, VAR can be implemented for the next edition to prevent a horrible error such as this from happening again. Truly shocking officiating there.
Because there’s no whistle, play continues. The fact that Anh Duc got space to unleash that half-volley is criminal. The worst part of this was that Syazwan Andik, who was perhaps near to Anh Duc, was definitely aware that the Vietnam attacker was behind him. Replays showed he took a look behind his shoulder and surely would’ve saw Anh Duc free. Why he hasn’t got near him is anyone’s guess. Syazwan, originally a left-winger, would have to sharpen his defensive anticipation a lot more.
Why Late?
Even the match reaching near the end with no headway in the match, Tan Cheng Hoe surprisingly still held back his changes. He only made his first change to replace Aidil Zafuan with Syafiq Ahmad to put more bodies forward on the 76th minute. He then threw on Akhyar Rashid and Shahrel Fikri in the last 10 minutes when perhaps every fan was crying for these changes much earlier in the game. Questions have to be asked on what Cheng Hoe had in mind when time was running out.
Just A Reminder
While the night just wasn’t ours, we have to look at the bigger picture. Before the tournament, no one expected us to go this far. We had some trouble getting a solid plan for our playing style in our warm-up matches but Cheng Hoe found the answer and made us believe again. This AFF Suzuki Cup campaign is surely the best we’ve seen our boys play in a long time after a turbulent last few years. We can see the fight in the players and the brave offensive display shown. Even at the face of adversity, they defied it and threw the gauntlet back at it. Heck, even our defense has massively improved as the Shahrul Saad-Aidil Zafuan partnership is getting more and more stable.
Whatever weaknesses we have, we can work on them. Remember that just because we came so agonizingly close to the trophy but failed to win it, it doesn’t mean it’s the end for us. Cheng Hoe is clearly building a foundation. We are still under the process of us being back to be one of Asia’s dark horses. But this tournament showed a huge amount of progress that was beyond our imaginations. It left us wanting to see more and more of them. Their performance made us excited on what will come next. This is only the beginning and if we play cards right, well be at the top someday. And hopefully, each and every Malaysian will be on board the bus to witness the journey undertaken by our players. A long road ahead, but take the right path and we’ll get there.