Almost losing again from a throw-in situation, Vietnam cannot be subjective if they want to win the championship

The Vietnamese team was stunned

That was the situation that took place in the 10th minute, Singapore’s Lionel Tan threw in very strongly, midfielder Baharudin joined the attack and headed back for striker Shawal Anuar to head. Goalkeeper Dinh Trieu pushed the ball out, and immediately, another striker of the away team, Faris Ramli, headed the ball into the Vietnamese team’s net.

Luckily for coach Kim Sang-sik’s team, Faris Ramli was offside before conceding the Vietnamese team’s goal. On the contrary, if the opponent takes the lead in the semi-final second leg, they will be in high spirits, and the Vietnamese team will face many risks in the remaining time of the match at Viet Tri Stadium.

Although the goal of Faris Ramli in particular and the Singapore team in general was not recognized, once again the Vietnamese team needs to be more cautious in similar situations. We have conceded goals from strong throws by Indonesian players at the 2023 SEA Games, and then in the matches of the 2nd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, taking place in early 2024.

At this year’s AFF Cup, in the match against Indonesia in the group stage, we controlled these throw-in situations well, thanks to our concentration and careful preparation when facing the team from the land of thousands of islands. However, the opponent’s focus on throw-ins seemed to be distracted in the matches against Singapore in the two semi-finals.

The Vietnamese team’s central defenders have not been proactive in making strong throw-ins into the penalty area from the Singapore players, so the ability to prevent high balls in situations like this is not good.

If Singapore can exploit throw-ins, then the upcoming opponents of the Vietnamese team in the final, Thailand or the Philippines, will also study the attack just mentioned. At the same time, Thailand and the Philippines also have suitable personnel for such pressure phases on the Vietnamese team. Currently, the physiques of Thai and Filipino players are better than the physiques of Singaporean players.

Every mistake made in past matches will be something that the Vietnamese team will research and find ways to fix before the finals. Hopefully, coach Kim Sang-sik’s team will be more perfect, better at resisting high balls, and better at resisting throw-ins in this year’s AFF Cup final.