Vietnam earn three points, but fail to display spectacular football

Vietnam yesterday edged out Laos 1-0 to meet their target but failed to contribute the kind of spectacular football their fans expect.

This is just a comment, not a critique of the Vietnamese players or their coach, Toshiya Miura, because effective football is also a part of spectacular football.

After three games in Group B of the 28th Southeast Asian Games taking place in Singapore, the Vietnamese national U-23 football team met their target of pocketing all nine points to move closer to winning one of the two tickets of the group to advance to the semifinals.

With six teams in Group B, each will have two more matches and thus, excluding Brunei with zero points, all five remaining teams have a chance to advance in theory.

Thailand and Vietnam each have nine points while Timor Leste, Malaysia and Laos all have three.

Coach Miura changed the line-up and the formation of the Vietnamese team in all three wins.

This is clearly to give players the motivation to progress and also the feeling that anyone can be replaced.

But in the match with Laos, the Vietnamese players seemed to display their ‘stardom’ attitude, especially after their 5-1 rout of the Malaysians, in the first half.

Thus, the Vietnamese players did not show a competitive spirit in the match, according to Vietnamese football coach Tran Minh Chien.

Chien added that the Vietnamese players did not obey the tactical instructions of their coach.

Facing a thick defensive wall set up by the Laotians to protect their goal frame, the Vietnamese chose to play with long passes instead of one-touch passes to break through the wall.

Under rain, a slippery surface and heavy ball, most of those long passes could not reach their intended destinations.

In the second half, they returned to their advantageous style of one-touch short passes and defender Thanh Hien scored the only goal in the 65th minute.

Speaking after the match, Vietnam’s Japanese coach Miura said, “I am satisfied with the final result. But it seems that my players have problems.

“The attacking line lost the ball many times but our defenders were solid.”

English coach David Booth of Laos said, “I am not surprised at the result. We couldn’t block Vietnam from scoring. Yet, no Vietnamese player impressed me today.”

Vietnam will next take on Timor Leste on June 7 and Thailand on June 10.

The multi-sport Southeast Asian Games will open later today and close on June 16.

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