ASEAN Cup Diary: Day 10
The dawn of the final matchday of the group stage is upon us...
It is the dawn of the final matchday for teams in Group B. Every team besides Laos still have a chance to qualify but they will need very different things and circumstances in order to help them advance. With Vietnam, they are in the driving seat of the group as they will only need to not lose against Myanmar and the top-spot along with a clash against Singapore awaits them.
For Indonesia and Myanmar, they are equal on almost every criteria besides head-to-head, which means Indonesia only needs to do better than Myanmar and they will face Thailand in the semis, and vice versa for the Myanmar should Indonesia loses. The Philippines, meanwhile, needs a win and also hopes that Myanmar loses in order to advance. Overall, this sets up to be a dramatic and chaotic day for group B. So let’s not wait any longer and get into it!
Indonesia 0-1 Philippines
Both teams have gone out with almost their strongest lineup and all players that you would expect to see from both teams were on the pitch. For Indonesia, they welcomed the return of central midfielder (#8) Marselino Ferdinan while the likes of left-back (#12) Pratama Arhan, right-back (#14) Asnawi Mangkualam, and striker (#10) Rafael Struick returned to the starting lineup. Also no surprises for the Philippines, but they have made two changes in midfielder (#5) Scott Woods and centre-back (#12) Amani Aguinaldo started in the place of (#8) Michael Baldisimo and (#4) Kike Linares respectively.
Not even 10 minutes into the match and the Philippines had already faced their first setback with goalkeeper (#1) Patrick Deyto suffered an injury after being fouled by an Indonesian player, and had to be replaced by (#16) Quincy Kammeraad. As noted in my Team of the Group stage piece, Deyto played a very crucial role in how the Philippines played out from the back since he wa comfortable with controlling the ball and made passes to play through the press. It would be interesting to see how Kammeraad would fill in that role for the away side now.
The away side have also dominated the match quite early on by controlling a lot of the ball and looked to play through Indonesia’s press. They did not look fazed about being pressed and were even happy to bait the press higher so they could create spaces for long passes being made to the attackers. Indonesia were trying to do the same, but their attempts to play through the Philippines’ 4-3-3 defensive block have been met with lost challenges and a lost of possession.
Lots of challenges and fouls have also been thrown left and right here, especially down both flanks where both teams have been the most active. The matchups down those flanks were interesting and I hoped it would stay that way for the majority of the match. Indonesia’s right-back Asnawi and the Philippines’ left winger (#24) Javier Mariona have had a fair few clashes with each other, with the host’s captain received a full-back for throwing an elbow inside the first 20 minutes.
Interesting to note that since Indonesia decided to use the 3+2 build-up shape (3 centre-backs + 2 central midfielders), the Philippines has switched from pressing with a 4-3-3 to a mid-block 4-2-4 with the lone striker and one of the midfielders closed Indonesia’s midfielders down, while their wingers paid close attention to Indonesia’s wide centre-backs. This worked, to some extent, because when the Indonesia played the ball wide, they would easily found a teammate sitting either in behind the Philippines’ midfielders or inside of the half-spaces. But because Indonesia did not have numerical advantage when going up against the Philippines’ backline, they have not been able to create any significant chances.
Going back to the change in goal for the Philippines, though, there was a significant shift from how the away side would have played out from the back. Instead of going short and getting the centre-backs more involved in build-up, you now had Kammeraad making long kicks over the top of Indonesia’s defence even when he was not under pressure. The host seemed to notice Kammeraad’s weaker ability to play with the ball, which encouraged them to have someone pressed the Philippines’ keeper whenever he had the ball, hoping that he would make a mistake. None of the pressing attempts have been successful, yet…
There seemed to be a strong reliance on attacks down the left-hand side for Indonesia. Not sure if it was because they had Arhan and Marselino played down that side, or if it was because they noticed something about the Philippines’ right-back (#3) Paul Tabinas and the fact that he was already on a yellow card. Could be a factor of both, I guess. And somehow, before Arhan could even take his signature throw-in, Indonesia’s captain (#13) Muhammad Ferarri got himself sent off for throwing an elbow at the Philippines’ captain Aguinaldo. Interesting game now, with Indonesia down to 10-men already. But no goals were scored in the first half as both teams headed into the tunnel at 0-0.
Indonesia have come roaring back after the break with a couple of their counter-attacking situations led to shots that had challenged Kammeraad, but the Philippines keeper continued to control the situation well. On the other end, the away side continued to push Indonesia further into their own defensive third with every attacks, which had led to a penalty that striker (#10) Bjørn Martin Kristensen successfully converted. With that goal, the Philippines now took pole position for a second-placed finish.
With that penalty goal, the Philippines also started to drop back and defended their lead, which subsequently created more opportunities for Indonesia to push forward. A few of Arhan’s trademark throw-ins have also been executed, but it seemed like the Philippines have neutralised that threat too. This left Indonesia with pretty much no way into the away side’s penalty box, which they have grown more and more frustrated of as time went on.
Summary
It was an interesting match between two teams who were considered to be in the race for the second place spot in the group. Both tried to play the style that they wanted to play, which they did, but faced a lot of problems when going up against the other team’s backline. What impressed me the most, however, was the fact that Albert Capellas went out with a concrete plan for how they wanted to deal with Indonesia, and that helped the Philippines massively because they never seemed to be losing control of the match. A semi-final spot for the Philippines was well and truly deserved considering how they have played throughout this tournament (if you ignore the fact that they drew 1-1 in their first three matches). Meanwhile, this could be a good reality check for Indonesia considering how much they have relied on their individuals to create things, and when those individuals got shut down, they seemed to be playing without a plan.
Vietnam vs Myanmar
There was one noticeable change in Vietnam’s starting lineup for this match as striker (#12) Rafaelson (or Nguyễn Xuân Son I should say) played in his first ever match for Vietnam after being naturalised. The host have also rotated a few players, but overall, their best players still headed out looking to secure the win. Meanwhile, I will continue to refrain my judgement about Myanmar’s starting lineup.
Instead of starting with a 3-5-2 formation, Vietnam surprisingly went with a 3-4-3 with actual attackers fielding into the two winger slots and the lone striker. This might have highlighted their intention to win against Myanmar while also created a noticeable goal difference. Having three attackers also allowed Vietnam to play more long ball in behind for wingers (#9) Nguyễn Văn Toàn and (#15) Bùi Vĩ Hào. Possibly, their intention was to have both players received the ball in behind and used their pace to beat Myanmar’s full-backs, allowing them to be in an unmarked situation to make crosses into the box for Xuân Son, who had the physicality to beat the opposition’s centre-backs in aerial challenges. So far, though, a lot of those long passes have not yielded any significant chances for the host after 15 minutes.
While Myanmar have been fairly restricted to inside their own defensive third so far, they have had a fair few chances created from counter-attacks. Usually they came from Vietnam’s corner kicks where the Myanmar keeper comfortably claimed the ball, which he then made a quick goal kick forward for the attackers to run at Vietnam’s defence. But, as with many teams throughout this tournament. they lacked the composure to create anything meaningful towards Vietnam’s goal.
Have not been able to notice Vietnam’s match against Myanmar a lot, but it seemed to be pretty much the same story. With a naturalised striker up front, the host looked like they relied a lot heavier on wing attacks and crosses into the box for Xuân Son. The Brazilian-born striker has got to the end of a few of those crosses, but he has not been able to direct the ball towards Myanmar’s goal so far. Meanwhile, whenever Myanmar regained possession, they looked to play the ball long to the attackers in hope that they could create a counter-attack, but they just ended up losing possession on most occasions.
Vietnam have managed to create a few chances so far, which included a couple that looked very dangerous. It was possible to notice the quality that Xuân Son brought to the team as he was the focal attacking point for the team. He was able to hold up the ball and even run at Myanmar’s centre-backs to create chances either for himself or for his teammates. But they just lacked the precision in front of goal to put the ball into the back of the net, because either their shots found the post, or it somehow went wide. 0-0 was the score at half-time.
Not disrespecting anyone, but you could tell the difference in quality whenever Xuân Son had the ball. The way he controlled the ball looked very tidy and left not much space for the opposition’s defenders to tackle him. He improvised the situation well too, which was shown through a delicate flick to Văn Toàn for his initial saved shot. Xuân Son then continued to race to pick up the ball and sent it in for an easy tap-in by Vĩ Hào to open the score. His goal to increase Vietnam’s lead to 2 goals was also good as well, in which he flicked the ball past two Myanmar defenders after receiving the ball from a low cross, then calmly put it into the back of the net. Just absolute class.
As Vietnam continued their domination, it seemed inevitable that they would find another goal, and it came from the captain himself (#19) Nguyễn Quang Hải. A trademark outside-of-the-box shot, the ball went low and deep into the bottom right and past the reach of Myanmar’s keeper. Vietnam’s fourth goal came not long after that with Xuân Son getting involved again as his shot on the edge of the box was saved but not cleared properly, allowed Vĩ Hào to tap in from close range. Fortunately for Myanmar, the referee stepped in and ruled the goal to be offside by milimetres.
The game has now turned to the Xuân Son show as he redeemed Vietnam’s fourth goal after another masterclass in controlling the ball to bring the ball down, changed direction to leave Myanmar defenders behind, before sent the ball to the top left corner. He then also assisted his second goal by playing a through ball into the path of substitute (#22) Nguyễn Tiến Linh, who put the ball calmly into the back of the net.
Summary
Even with a slightly rotated side, Vietnam still managed to secure a dominant win against Myanmar and locked in a semi-final clash against Singapore. Their performance was decent, however, left me with a huge question of “what will happen if Vietnam does not have Xuân Son”. It was clear how heavy they relied on him to create chances, and all credits to him for having such an outstanding debut by scoring 2 goals and assisted another 2, but a lot of their attacking chances had to go through the Brazilian-born striker. This match created an interesting dynamic because it will be interesting to see how Vietnam advances from this point, will they continue to rely on Xuân Son or will they come up with a plan to play when he is not on the pitch?
With that, the ASEAN Cup group stage is finally done and every single day (except for day 5) have been covered very extensively with tactical thoughts and observations along with a tiny bit of data. As the tournament heads into a short break before the semi-final, teams will have a chance to regroup and recover before heading out to play the first leg of the semi-final on the 26th and 27th. My coverage of the tournament is not finishing anytime soon, though, as we still have about six matches left. But for now, happy holidays!