The Vietnamese team has a headache with the problem of… preventing throw-ins against Thailand

Weaknesses of the Vietnamese team, strengths of Thailand

The Vietnamese team was successful in preventing throw-ins against Indonesia in the group stage. At that time, we have full vigilance against the team that owns the player with the strongest and most dangerous throw-in ability in Southeast Asia: Pratama Arhan. At that time, in the Vietnamese team’s squad, there was goalkeeper Nguyen Filip who had a great advantage in stature (1.92 m tall) and was very good at playing highball.

However, against Singapore, coach Kim Sang-sik’s team almost lost from throw-in situations like this in both semi-final matches. In fact, the Vietnamese team conceded after a throw-in by Singapore in the semi-final second leg (10 minutes) at Viet Tri Stadium. In this throw-in phase, Singapore performed 3 consecutive headers: from centre-back Baharudin’s passing header, to Shawal Anuar and Faris Ramli’s clear headers. The Vietnamese team’s central defenders continuously lost to their opponents in all three headers mentioned above.

Luckily for the Vietnamese team, Singapore’s aforementioned goal was not recognized because Faris Ramli was in an offside position. However, this is a situation where the Vietnamese team must be vigilant, and at the same time luck cannot always be on the side of coach Kim Sang-sik’s students, if we continue to lose to the opponent in disputes from throw-in situations.

As for the Thai team, this team does not often use throw-in situations like the way Indonesia and Singapore do against the Vietnamese team. First, Thailand has many attack options and their playing style is diverse. They do not necessarily have to repeat the same type of defense over and over using only one method, which is to throw strongly into the opponent’s penalty area.

Second, in the semi-finals against the Philippines, Thailand did not use such an attack, because the Philippines possesses a tall defense (the Philippines’ four defenders are each 1.85 m tall or less), playing good head.

However, if Thailand discovers that the Vietnamese team is poor at preventing high balls and throw-in situations, they will likely use this style of play when facing us in the final.

Coach Kim Sang-sik prepared a plan

In theory, the Golden Temple football team possesses ideal individuals for stopping goals from throw-in situations. Thailand has two full-backs, Nicholas Mickelson and Suphanan Bureerat, who are physically strong and have strong throwing power. They have midfielders Pansa Hemviboon (1.90 m), Jonathan Khemdee (1.90 m), and striker Patrik Gustavsson (1.84 m) who have too many advantages in aerial battles. Therefore, if Thailand uses the same method as Singapore used to make it difficult for the Vietnamese team in throw-ins, they could be even more dangerous than Singapore.

Therefore, the Vietnamese team must also consider a defense plan for plays like this. Former U.23 Vietnam team, coach Hoang Anh Tuan proposed: “To prevent throw-ins directly into the penalty area, in the past I often arranged the goalkeepers to stand tall and proactively jump into the penalty area. Handling aerial ball situations like this, no matter how tall the opponent’s attacking players are, they cannot have an advantage with the goalkeeper’s hands.

In addition, the main problem of defensive teams in throw-in situations is psychological. No matter how strong throw-ins are, they cannot be as dangerous as cross-foot situations from the same position. Besides, in throw-in situations, it is impossible to send the ball to the other side of the 5m 50 zone, so the defensive team can almost localize some destinations of the ball to control it.”

In the semi-final second leg against Singapore on the evening of December 29, coach Kim Sang-sik tried several times to bring midfielder Viet Anh onto the field, in order to take advantage of this midfielder’s physical advantage (1.85 m) in defending against high balls. Maybe that is also a way for Mr. Kim to prepare personnel for the final match with Thailand. Unfortunately, the consecutive injuries of three full-backs Van Thanh, Xuan Manh and Tan Tai caused coach Kim Sang-sik to bankrupt his plan to bring Viet Anh onto the field.

Anyway, that detail reflects that the Korean coach highly values ​​Thailand’s ability to attack the ball. Mr. Kim will find ways to overcome this strength of his opponent.