Behind The Opponents’ Lines: Vietnam

Ah, the Golden Star Warriors. Ever since Park Hang-seo took over Vietnam in 2017, they are going nowhere but upwards. The South Korean has done a tremendous job in leading the team to the point where his face can be seen everywhere in the country (Yes, this is not a joke). Just look at the team’s achievements since he took over. AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 champions, winning the 2019 SEA Games gold medal since they were reunified, Asian Cup 2019 quarter-finalists and breaking into the top 100 nations in the FIFA world rankings.

So you can see why he’s being so revered in Vietnam. Park has transformed the team and the players to a higher level of performances. If all goes well, they could well break their record of their highest ever FIFA ranking of 84, last achieved in 1998.

Since Park took over, Vietnam would always get the better and outsmarting the Harimau Malaya in the last four encounters, winning three and drawing one time. It was hard for Malaysia to break down Vietnam’s disciplined defensive set-up as well as our key players effectively shackled. In those four matches, we only scored twice, coming from set-pieces in just one match in the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup first leg, drawing 2-2. If we stand any chance of finishing high, we need to find ways to break down stubborn Vietnam.

That being said, how has Vietnam prepared for the qualifiers? To understand better how Vietnam has been getting ready, we asked FootyVietnam, a Twitter page that gives all the news and information about, well, Vietnam football.

The Preparations

Vietnam’s preparations so far it seems has gone rather smoothly. It seems they have taken some measures of getting the players match-fit and ready before heading off to Dubai.

“Preparations are going well. Our national team started early May with a training camp in Hà Nội. Four short training friendly matches against our U22 side which were all won. No fans allowed and the matches were played without broadcasting. The only bad thing would be some minor injuries of some players who then had to train individually. But nothing serious as all 29 registered players (except 1) flew to UAE yesterday (Last Wednesday). They arrived (on the same day) at the hotel in UAE and have their first training session in Dubai at around 2200 (Vietnam time),” stated FootyVietnam.

Vietnam ultimately did have a friendly in Dubai. And that was against Jordan, the very team they KO in the 2019 Asian Cup last 16 to become quarter-finalists, behind closed doors. Just like what happened in the Asian Cup, this friendly ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. There wasn’t much info to be gained from the match itself about Vietnam.

“The match was played behind closed doors, so we didn't get much besides some info on how the match went on. That was to keep their tactics and playstyle of both teams in secret to best "surprise" the upcoming opponents. So no comments from Park Hang-Seo or the players (yet),” stated FootyVietnam.

FootyVietnam though feels it’s weird there is only one friendly given that the team haven’t played for over a year and a second one would’ve helped. With Vietnam sitting out the matches on 3rd June, they have more time to tweak what is needed before their first qualifying match on the 7th.

The Players

Who are the players to watch in this Vietnam team? According to FootyVietnam’s response, there’s way too many to count. That’s how much of a force the team has become in South-East Asia. If you’re following the V. League (Vietnam’s top division), you would be familiar with some of these players.

“If you follow V League, you'll see that HAGL (Hoang Anh Gia Lai) is on top of the table. And they have many players in the NT. Nguyễn Văn Toàn, Nguyễn Công Phượng, Trần Mình Vương, Vũ Văn Thanh, all from HAGL and in top form. Especially Công Phượng and Văn Toàn who always impress in the NT,” listed FootyVietnam.

“Quế Ngọc Hải, our captain and defender, is also worth keeping an eye for as well as the other good strikers Nguyễn Tiến Linh and Phan Văn Đức. Amazing goals in the current V League season by both,” FootyVietnam continued.

Of course, if there is one player to truly keep an eye on, it’s Nguyễn Quang Hải. The winger has tormented the Harimau Malaya before and impacted some of Vietnam’s important matches. He can look forward to doing so again and dampen our own qualification hopes in the process.

“His free kicks are amazing and he has amazing dribbling. Just look at his goals from 2018 at the AFC U23 Championship. Hope he can show us some more in the qualifiers!” FootyVietnam explains why Quang Hải is such a threat.

While Park Hang-seo does have a lot of players fully fit to choose from, he is missing two key players: Đỗ Hùng Dũng & Đặng Văn Lâm. There is also concern about two other players within the squad.

“Đỗ Hùng Dũng definitely is a huge miss. One of the best Vietnamese midfielders right now. He was fouled brutally in a V League match and is injured until next year. The following players aren't absentees but were injured for a long time. Đoàn Văn Hậu and Nguyễn Trọng Hoàng didn't play for a time but still flew with the NT to UAE. We'll see if they start in one of the matches,” explains FootyVietnam.

As for Vietnam’s first-choice keeper Đặng Văn Lâm, he was expected to fly to Dubai and join up with his teammates. But his plans got derailed horribly when a player at his club, Cerezo Osaka, got tested positive for Covid-19. For everyone’s safety, the goalkeeper has to stay behind and in the process, miss Vietnam’s three remaining qualifiers.

Challenges & Expectations

Đặng Văn Lâm’s unavailability will surely be a huge blow to Vietnam. Apparently, his absence from the squad has caused nervousness among the Vietnam fans including FootyVietnam, especially about Vietnam’s current situation in the goalkeeping department.

“Our regular goalie Đặng Văn Lâm has to stay at his club Cerezo Osaka because of recent Covid-19 cases. So another goalkeeper has to play. This caused some worries for fans as one goalie hasn't played a match for the NT for 8 years and the other two goalies have never played internationally,” commented FootyVietnam. So you can see why there isn’t too much confidence about who is mending the sticks. There’s also another concern about the team.

“Besides that, of course, not having played for over a year makes it very hard to find the chemistry in the team again, so we'll have to see how Park Hang Seo adapts his plan to the players. But that's it, I think. We had a lot of time to prepare, so actually, nothing to worry about too much,” stated FootyVietnam. The mention of chemistry is pretty much the same concern stated by Wael Jabir about the UAE team. 

It’s understandable given that most of the national teams have not played for over a year thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, and that includes us. So it will be interesting to see who can get their team up to scratch. But ultimately, it seems there isn’t too much to be nervous about from a bigger picture for Vietnam.

However, despite being in a tremendous position, the expectations heading into the qualifiers are quite modest according to Footy Vietnam from the players and coaches’ perspective compared to what the fans want.

“Well, of course, we want to finish top of the group as we are already on it. We want to advance to the next qualifying round, so we want to win all three matches. However, the players and the coach say that they will be satisfied with 4 points out of those 3 matches, as long as they qualify for the next round,” said FootyVietnam.

As for expectations on the matches, FootyVietnam hopes the Golden Star Warriors can pull off another win against Indonesia, expects the Malaysia match to be a good one and despite pulling off a tremendous 1-0 victory over UAE the last time out, FootyVietnam still sees them as “very dangerous and skilful,”.

Conclusion

If we can’t get anything from the UAE match, then the importance of this match has taken up to a higher level. On paper, it seems it could go either way. But recent history suggests otherwise. Who knows what Park Hang-seo has in mind to frustrate the Harimau Malaya once again?

But the amount of talent Vietnam has in the team is quite scary. The likes of Công Phượng, Quang Hải and Tiến Linh can cause damage in more ways than one if the defence isn’t careful. If there’s ever a time for Tan Cheng Hoe to get his first win over Park Hang-seo, it has to be, now, here and there.

A massive thank you once again to FootyVietnam for answering questions about the Vietnam national team and their preparations for the qualifiers! If you want to know more about Vietnam football, you can follow @FootyVietnam on Twitter!

THIS ARTICLE IS POWERED BY CYBERLYNX INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE: EDUCATION FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM