Just Four Things: Vietnam Vs. Iran

Credit- xinhuanet.com

Slick Decisiveness

Vietnam proved to be a much tougher opponent for Iran to break through. The Golden Dragons continued where they left off by setting up to frustrate one of the favorites in their biggest continental task to date. They set up deep to frustrate Iran, which again, worked at first. But Iran are clearly not having any of it. Team Melli were looking to work the Vietnam defence with neat build-up between their players.

They have some idea creating holes on the Vietnam wall. Iran made great sharp passes to unnerve their opponents and had they not overhit it just slightly or the Vietnam keeper (More on him later), the scoreline would’ve been far worse. It was through one of these passes that lead to Iran’s first goal. Right-back Vouria Ghafoori fed a through pass just right for Saman Ghoddos, who whipped in a cross by the goal-line for Sardar Azmoun (Who had a great day) to head in the goal. The build-up was so quick, Vietnam barely didn’t have time to get in position to defend when Ghoddos’ cross came in.

Iran then killed off the game via another through pass by the 70-minute mark. Azmoun again at the end of it and did well to take the ball away between two Vietnam defenders, before lashing one past the keeper. With Vietnam unconvincing striding towards the Iran box, Team Melli (Except for one heart-stopping moment), never looked like surrendering their lead.

Difficult Transition

It’s bad enough Vietnam conceded early, but they had a difficult time to try and trouble Iran. If you watch Vietnam closely throughout their AFF Suzuki Cup campaign, when they win back possession from defending, they strike back via counter-attacks with some fancy passing and footwork. But given the nature of their opponents, their glimpse of an attack was quickly put out by Iran and the transition from defence to attack didn’t fully materialized in large parts of the match.

The physical nature of Iran was a factor in stopping these counters. You can see how easy the Iran players disrupt the forward movement by the Suzuki Cup champs. It was only until after half-time Vietnam looked a little better when Nguyen Van Toan came on to provide much needed support for Nguyen Cong Phuong, who should’ve equalized after being fed through one-on-one by Van Toan, but can only shoot straight at Alireza Beiranvand. While slightly more direct since Van Toan’s introduction, they still didn’t trouble Iran enough as Team Melli book their place in the next round.

Van Alarm

Perhaps the scoreline could’ve been worse for Vietnam had it not for their goalkeeper Dang Van Lam. The new Muangthong United goalkeeper looked alert in large parts of the match. Most notably, getting out quickly to close down the space towards Ghoddos when he was through on goal in the first half. He was solid in goal and kept his composure against the far superior Iran. He could do nothing against the pair of goals by the deadly Azmoun however. But he did deny a stinger by the Rubin Kazan striker. Muangthong should feel good about the Vietnam stopper once the 2019 Thai League kicks off.

Time To Go Crazy

With a goal difference of -3 and 0 points, a chunk of Vietnam’s fate in the Asian Cup rests in their own hands with their final group match against Yemen. But the other chunk also rests on the results of other teams looking to book their place in the round of 16 via the best 3rd placed team. They adopted a conservative approach here and against Iraq. But it’s time for them to go all out.
Yemen pretty much have been the whipping boys so far, letting in five Vs. Iran and three against Iraq. They pretty much can finish third if they beat Vietnam but with a horrendous goal difference, they are least likely to get through as one of four best 3rd placed teams compared to Vietnam. So, Vietnam should have the more incentive, but have to score at least four to wipe out their negative goal difference to stand a chance.