Son is still very ‘Spring’!

KDIFFICULT START

The Singapore team has carefully studied Nguyen Xuan Son’s playing style. In the match on the evening of December 26 at Jalan Besar, coach Tsutomu Ogura always assigned midfielder Lionel Tan to closely follow Xuan Son in every phase of the ball. With an ideal body shape, the player wearing shirt number 15 has relatively well controlled the number 1 trigger of the Vietnamese team.

With his opponent marking him like a shadow, Xuan Son could barely turn his back to finish, and his aerial combat was also less effective. At the same time, Singapore’s defense also isolated Xuan Son from his teammates, actively catching passes towards this spearhead.

Combined with the artificial turf at Jalan Besar, the Vietnamese team has difficulty controlling the ball. With only 31% of possession, coach Kim Sang-sik’s students had a difficult match. Xuan Son fell into a state of ball starvation, when he often had to receive the ball in a very difficult position. The striker born in 1997 only had one impromptu hook shot against the bar when the opponent proactively raised the offside trap. The remaining satellites around Vi Hao, Thanh Binh, Quang Hai cannot create enough space for Xuan Son to move around.

VAR IT CAN’T BE STOP IT SON

When VAR and referee Ko Kyung-jin rejected Xuan Son’s masterpiece because he thought the Vietnamese striker touched the ball with his hand, many people probably thought about the unlucky match day of the player wearing shirt number 12.

However, classy stars like Xuan Son only need a moment to shine, even though the 27-year-old striker had to wait until extra time to make his mark. In the 90+8 minute, he applied enough pressure to make the Singapore defender awkwardly play the ball with his hand, resulting in a penalty that Tien Linh then successfully converted. Xuan Son then himself put an end to Singapore’s hopes with a close-range kick, sealing a 2-0 victory.

It cannot be said that Xuan Son had a brilliant match, with the difficulties he overcame. However, he only needs a split second for his own happy day. But to have that moment, Xuan Son worked extremely hard. Just like the match against Myanmar, Xuan Son tried hard to escape the siege of the Singapore defender. He ran, drifted, contested, moved to attract people and did everything he could to light up Vietnam’s attack on Jalan Besar.

Xuan Son’s enthusiastic fire warmed the “cold” attack of ideas that coach Kim Sang-sik and his team presented for 90 minutes against Singapore. That is the spirit of not giving up that Mr. Kim always wants in his students. Let’s fight until the last minute.

In a few days at Viet Tri Stadium, it is believed that Xuan Son will continue to torment Singapore’s defense.