Philippines ‘warms up’ slowly, but extremely good in the last minutes: Vietnam team is cautious

Identifying Philippine competitors

In the match against Laos on December 15, the Philippines conceded in the 33rd minute, after an own goal by midfielder Baldisimo. In the previous match against Myanmar on December 12, the Philippines conceded even earlier, from the 25th minute, after Maung Maung Lwin’s goal.

This detail reflects that the Philippine team has a habit of starting very slowly. Their defense does not have good concentration and “warms up” slowly at the beginning of matches. This is the weakness of the Philippines, which has been successfully exploited by the opponents that have met them at this year’s tournament, including Myanmar and Laos. The Vietnamese team can also pay attention to this point of the opponent, when we clash with the Philippines at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila tomorrow.

The problem for the Vietnamese team is that if we want to exploit the weakness of the Philippines’ slow start, we ourselves must play better. In the two matches against Laos and Indonesia, the Vietnamese team itself did not start well, in none of the matches did we score a goal in the first half. Particularly in the match against Indonesia, it was not until the 77th minute that the Vietnamese team scored a goal. conceded to the team from the land of thousands of islands.

Maybe against Indonesia, the Vietnamese team played cautiously due to the fear of losing, stemming from the fact that the Vietnamese team continuously lost to Indonesia this year. In the match against Laos, we did not understand the opponent well and did not dare to play quickly. But against the Philippines, after having had the opportunity to study this team through their first two matches at the AFF Cup, coach Kim Sang-sik may have read the opponent and the Vietnamese team will play faster in the match. tomorrow.

As for the Philippines’ strengths, this team is quite physically resilient, leading to them often being stronger than their opponents in the late stages of the match and constantly scoring goals during this period. In the match against Myanmar on December 12, the Philippines equalized 1-1 in the 72nd minute. In the match against Laos on December 15, the Philippines leveled the score at 1-1 in the 77th minute. Even in the 83rd minute, Sandro Miguel Reyes was on the side. The Philippines also had another situation to put the ball into the Laos team’s net. However, that goal was denied due to offside. But whether or not there is another goal, it must be affirmed that the Philippine players are very strong. Good physical strength helps them maintain high speed at the end of the match, when the opponent is exhausted.

Regarding these points, former VFF Professional Vice President Duong Vu Lam commented: “Filipino players have long been strong in body shape and physical strength. This is a factor that the Vietnamese team needs to pay attention to. Maybe they play very simply, but that simplicity sometimes deceives their opponents, before the Philippines themselves use that simplicity to punish their opponents.

In order not to concede against the Philippines, the Vietnamese team needs to prepare well physically, compete well, and avoid being out of breath at the end of the match. At the same time, we need to pay attention to another strong point of this team, which is high ball situations.