The Vietnamese team needs to have a plan B when Xuan Son is blocked

Nguyen Xuan Son may also be… blockaded

Former Vietnam team coach, Mr. Phan Thanh Hung commented: “Tien Linh and Xuan Son understand each other very well, they are too ideal to play together. Each of them has good personal ability, good personal ball handling, and many mutations. Then when combined together, they further promoted their teamwork ability, Tien Linh could pass the ball to Xuan Son to score and vice versa. Each of these two players has the ability to “play the ball” well for the other player.

But that was when Tien Linh came on the field in the final match of the Vietnam team’s match against the Singapore team. Before that, when Nguyen Xuan Son was alone in the striker line of the Vietnamese team, he was locked down by the Singapore defenders. At the same time, the player very close to Xuan Son, Dinh Thanh Binh, hardly helped his new teammate on the national team.

Thanh Binh was not able to put pressure on Singapore’s defense, nor was he able to take advantage of the gaps created by Xuan Son, at a time when Xuan Son attracted the defenders of the lion island nation’s football team towards him. The opposite situation also happened in the first matches of the AFF Cup 2024 group stage. At that time, Xuan Son had not yet played, Nguyen Tien Linh was also alone in the striker line of the Vietnamese team (in the matches against Laos). and Indonesia, part of the match against the Philippines), exactly like the situation Xuan Son encountered against Singapore at Jalan Besar on the evening of December 26.

This means that no matter how good Xuan Son and Tien Linh are, if they are separated individually, if they do not receive good support from the playing satellites around them, it will be difficult for these players to develop. effective.

Experience from 1 win

The Singapore team read this and always had strong and strong centre-backs from the lion island team closely accompanying Xuan Son in the first half, forcing the striker of the Vietnamese team to play quite far from the restricted area. the opponent’s territory, and at the same time he was inhibited by the tricks and solid playing style of Singapore’s central defenders.

In theory, in future matches, the opponents will understand Nguyen Xuan Son better. Teams like Thailand or the Philippines (opponents that the Vietnamese team can face in the final, if we win against Singapore in the semi-finals) do not lack tall, strong midfielders. Competing with Xuan Son is not a big problem for midfielders of this type.

It is important that when Xuan Son is blocked, the satellites around him, those playing near this player, must take advantage of the spaces that Xuan Son creates, when he attracts the attention of the defenders. enemy. In addition to Tien Linh playing very well with Xuan Son, the Vietnamese team once had Van Toan who was able to take advantage of these gaps in the match against Myanmar. However, the unfortunate thing is that Van Toan is currently injured, while the person assigned to replace Van Toan in the match against Singapore, Dinh Thanh Binh, is too weak in terms of technique and ability to coordinate with surrounding teammates. .

Coach Kim Sang-sik needs to consider other personnel options. For example, Hai Long can be pushed high to play as a striker, the way Van Toan often plays alongside Xuan Son. Or Mr. Kim can consider using Tien Linh even earlier, instead of just launching him at the end of each match like in the recent matches of the Vietnamese team.

Anyway, the fact that Xuan Son was blocked by Singapore during the beginning of the semi-final first leg also unintentionally helped coach Kim Sang-sik open up many new attack ideas for the Vietnamese team, helping the Korean coach develop realized that it would not be enough if he only relied on Xuan Son in the remaining journey of the Vietnamese team at this year’s tournament!