ASEAN Cup Diary: Day 2
Day 1 was a blast, hopefully day 2 did not disappoint our expectation!
Day 1 of the ASEAN Cup brought a lot of dramas and a lot of goals from big nations like Thailand or Malaysia, but it also brought some elements of surprise with Cambodia fighting hard to gain a point off of Malaysia. With that in mind, day 2 is expected to provide even more excitements with two title contenders in Vietnam and Indonesia kicking off their campaign in Group B against Laos and Myanmar respectively. Let’s not wait any further and start day 2!
Myanmar 0-1 Indonesia
Even though they brought a relatively young team, Indonesia were still considered as favourites to win this tie, but maybe not as much as if they could call up some of the senior players. But nonetheless, it was a good chance to take a closer look at the likes of Pratama Arhan, Asnawi Mangkualam, Marselino Ferdinan, Rafael Struick, and some of the domestic youngsters. Meanwhile, I will be honest that I do not know much about Myanmar football so any verdicts on their lineup will not be that accurate. All I know is that they have also brought their best players to this tournament.
You could tell from the first ten minutes or so that Indonesia wanted to assert dominance straight away. They controlled more of the ball, managed to push Myanmar back inside their own defensive third, but they lacked that composure to string together sequences inside of the final third. A lot of their passes were misplayed or they made heavy touches that led to Myanmar players tackling them and, subsequently, losing possession. It was understandable considering this was a very young side (though not without first team experience, because they must have played for their domestic clubs), so they needed more experience at the international level.
There was also a reliance on attacks down the wings, especially down the left with the presence of Marselino and Alfriyanto Nico. Some of the possession sequences felt deliberate because they aimed to get Marselino into free spaces where he could make crosses into the box for the #9 Hokky Caraka. Another player who have caught my attention quite early on was central midfielder (#8) Arkhan Fikri, who looked quite technical with the ball and seemed to be the dictator in midfield for Indonesia with his passes.
Meanwhile, Myanmar tried to be a bit more aggressive with their challenges, especially inside the defensive third. Since Indonesia was still unable to create any noticeable strings of possession, Myanmar were able to recover possession and hit the away side on the break, where Indonesia’s back-three rest defence was put to the test. They looked…shaky because a few of the chances that they conceded looked dangerous, but they were able to get away with it because Myanmar also lacked that precision with their final passes to get the ball onto the feet or head of their players. So far, so good…
I also sensed (at the 30th minute) that a red card might happen some time during the match considering how aggressive the Myanmar players were with their challenges. Let’s see if I was right…
Myanmar were also trying to play football, and kudos to them, it worked at times. They managed to create a few short combinations out wide and got the ball into the box to create problems for the centre-backs. But again, they lacked that final ball or players just did not position themselves well enough to be at the end of those crosses or through balls. Though, the rough challenges were leaving a bit of a stain on how I viewed them.
It was pretty much a similar story in the second half, Myanmar tried to attack and had a few good moments, but they still lacked the things mentioned earlier to successfully create a dangerous goal-scoring chance. Meanwhile, with the introduction of Rafael Struick, Indonesia’s attacks now went through Struick a lot more as the Dutch-born attacker dropped deep to receive the ball or moved wide to help Marselino and now-captain Asnawi. But, and I hate to repeat myself so many times, Indonesia also lacked that final ball to put themselves into a good goal-scoring position.
And…somehow, Arhan’s long throw was at its best again. His infamous long throw led to a scramble at the far post, which Kadek Arel was able to get the ball at the end and brought it down for Asnawi, who struck the ball to the into the top of the net and away from the Myanmar’s keeper’s reach. Cannot say it was a well-deserved goal, but Indonesia was slightly better so at least they have got what they deserved.
Laos 1-4 Vietnam
Similar to the match that was happening at the same time, Vietnam also came out with a relatively weaker squad than expected, with many key players being left on the bench. Though it was still hard to deny that they were still the favourite for the tie as some of the familiar faces such as Nguyen Hoang Duc, Nguyen Tien Linh, or captain Do Duy Manh still started. Meanwhile, also similar to Myanmar, I have virtually no knowledge about Laos football so I will not leave any verdicts on their lineup.
No surprise, but Vietnam looked to be the more dominant side early into the match as they controlled more of the ball. But instead of being pressed and chased down, Laos decided to sit back in a 5-4-1 mid-block, which might have thrown off the away side. More long passes were being made to encourage the wing-backs and attackers to run in behind, but in the end, they lacked the support in numbers to create anything noticeable inside of the final third.
Meanwhile, on the few occasions where Laos were able to create a counter-attack, they did not look too bad. Though, also similar to Myanmar, seemed to lack that precision and composure inside of the final third to capitalise on the nervous moments from the Viet centre-backs. But as far as the defensive side went, they were still holding themselves up.
I will be honest, and with no bias or anything, Vietnam’s attacks looked boring. So boring in fact that I had to change the speed of the stream to 2x just to see if there were anything good in those attacks. The answer? Still no. Just long passes, a lack of ideas, and a lack of number supporting the ball carrier. The gap between the build-up group, consisted of three centre-backs and the double pivot, and the attackers were so big that it was hard to imagine they could create anything meaningful. Just aimlessly crossing the ball into an area where Laos had the numerical superiority and then hoped that a corner would somehow be turned into a goal.
Even though, again, a similar story in the second half, one of Vietnam’s long passes from Bui Tien Dung found Nguyen Hai Long, who was running into the channel between Laos’ left-back and left centre-back. From there, he was clean through on goal and a powerful shot just put the ball out of reach of the Laos’ keeper. And…the difference in quality came through, which will eventually end up on When Playing Out From The Back Goes Wrong, as substitute Quang Hai won the ball and put Tien Linh in a good goal-scoring position, and he did not waste the chance. Quang Hai once again played the role of a…ball-winning midfielder (?) and won the ball once more to put another substitute in Nguyen Van Toan on a 1v1 situation, which he took it with both hands.
From there, things just started to crumble for Laos as Van Vi scored from a corner to put Vietnam well into the lead. A late penalty could not help Laos pulled the game back and Vietnam, with the help of key players coming off the bench, secured all three points.
Compared to day 1, day 2 was less eventful than expected as the favourites (Indonesia and Vietnam) seemed to struggle with creating chances and they both lacked the precision in the final third to create any noticeable chance towards the opposition’s goal. While Myanmar tried to match Indonesia and also faced with a similar problem, which then led to them losing momentum in the second half, Laos attempted to sit back to frustrate Vietnam and they sorta did it in the first half, but a difference in quality led to individual errors and the floodgate was opened from there. In the end, the favourites got what was expected and opened their campaign with all three points.
There will be a one-day break for all teams and also for the Notebook, but when we return, Singapore and Philippines will start their campaign against Cambodia and Myanmar respectively, while Malaysia and Indonesia will return with two ties that they are expected to win against Timor-Leste and Laos. See you on day 3!