Must win to maintain hope of reaching the AFF Cup semi-finals
After 4 matches, the Thai team soon won a ticket to play in the semi-finals of AFF Cup 2024 with first place in Group A by winning all 3 matches. “War Elephants” is also the first team to participate in the round for the four strongest representatives of the tournament. Meanwhile, the race to continue with second place in Group A is said to be a fierce competition between Malaysia and Singapore. However, Cambodia is not left out. Even though the pagoda team cannot decide on their own, they still have hope of reaching the semi-finals.
Before the final match of Group A taking place at 8pm tonight (December 20), the Thai team ranked first in the group with 9 points, Singapore ranked second with 6 points, Cambodia ranked 3rd with 4 points, Malaysia ranked 4th also had 4 points.
The Cambodian team almost won against Malaysia in the first match of the group stage
If they want to reach the semi-finals, the Cambodian team must win 3 points in the final match. Coach Gyotoku’s team needs to create an earthquake against the powerful Thai team. This is the ultimate challenge for the pagoda team, but football is full of surprises. In case of defeating the “war elephant”, the Cambodian team will have 7 points.
Winning against Thailand is only a necessary condition, and Cambodia must wait for the sufficient conditions in the remaining match of Group A between Singapore and Malaysia. Accordingly, Malaysia must defeat Singapore in the final round. At that time, Malaysia and Cambodia will both have 7 points, and the same direct confrontation record when they drew 2-2 in the group stage. At this time, Cambodia will enter the semi-finals if it is better than Malaysia in terms of goal difference – defeat or total number of goals scored in the group stage.
What do Cambodian fans believe in?
The task of defeating the Thai team at this time is too difficult for Cambodia. Especially after the impressive performances that the “war elephant” has shown in the past 3 matches. Furthermore, coach Masatada Ishii’s team also has the advantage of playing at home. Although the door is very narrow, fans of the pagoda team still have reason to hope for a “miracle”.
Group A rankings after 4 matches
Through 3 matches in the group stage of AFF Cup 2024, the Cambodian team has shown extremely high determination. Coach Gyotoku’s team played very well against Malaysia, when the two teams met in the first match. Cambodia took the lead from Malaysia but fought back to lead 2-1, before unfortunately allowing their opponents to divide the points at the end of the match. In the match against Timor Leste, Cambodia was also behind and once again came back to defeat the opponent with a final score of 2-1.
Talking about Thailand, this team has definitely entered the semi-finals with first place in Group A, regardless of the results in the last match. Therefore, coach Masatada Ishi may make plans to preserve the force for the upcoming important period. Most likely, the “war elephant” will not play with the strongest squad in the match against Cambodia, when Mr. Ishii wants to give the pillars a rest and test new tactical and personnel options. If this really happens, the Cambodian team needs to take advantage.
Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 is shown live and completely on FPT Play, at: http://fptplay.vn
