ASEAN Cup Diary: Final 2nd leg
It's ze final countdown! Who will extend their regional trophy count and earn the right to brag until the next edition of the tournament? All will be determined within 90 minutes or more!
90 minutes. Potentially 120 and a penalty shootout. That is what stands between the finalists and the ASEAN Cup trophy. It will be a long and arduous 90 minutes for both Vietnam and Thailand, but these teams have been here before, many many times in fact. They know what it takes to lift the title and what they will need to reach the top once more.
Right now, Vietnam holds a one-goal lead over Thailand thanks to the individual performance of (#12) Nguyễn Xuân Son but the Thai gave themselves a chance late into the first leg thanks to the header of centre-back (#5) Chalermsak Auksee. Playing in front of their home fans in the second leg, they will be absolutely firing and want to turn the tie around to earn the regional bragging rights…until the next edition of the ASEAN Cup rolls around. It all…comes down to this!
Lineup
Once again, as expected, Thailand continued to field most of their best players with the intention of gaining control of the match as early as possible. The return of defensive midfielder (#18) Weerathep Pomphan and the winger duo (#10) Suphanat Mueanta and (#7) Supachok Sarachat were the most noticeable changes to the host’s lineup. Centre-back (#5) Chalermsak and attacking midfielder (#17) Ekanit Panya also got dropped by manager Masatada Ishii to the bench, and in their place were (#4) Jonathan Khemdee and (#8) Peeradol Chamratsamee. It was impressive to see Thailand’s depth when Ishii constantly changed his starting lineup while the team still maintained their performance at the highest level.
Very interesting that Vietnam decided to retain the majority of their lineup as manager Kim Sang-sik only made one change to the lineup that won them the first leg. Attacking midfielder (#10) Phạm Tuấn Hải now stepped in to replace (#15) Bùi Vĩ Hào, who I thought did not perform at his best during the first leg. They would, potentially, be lining up in a 3-4-3 now that Tuấn Hải was chosen to start, or he would be paired up alongside (#12) Xuân Son/Rafaelson up top while (#8) Châu Ngọc Quang would play in midfield instead.
First half
Given that Thailand were playing in front of their home crowds, it did not come as a surprise when they dominated possession early into the match. But what surprised many was Vietnam taking the lead of the second leg through a long ball that Khemdee could not intercept, allowing Tuấn Hải to get in behind and lobbed Thailand’s keeper (#1) Patiwat Khammai for the opening goal. Now Thailand had to fight a two-goal lead to maintain their hope of retaining the trophy.
What I was expecting when I saw Vietnam’s lineup was actually what happened when the away side defended against Thailand’s build-up. They looked to defend in a 5-4-1 mid-block with Tuấn Hải and Ngọc Quang shifted to a wider position to defend against Thailand’s wide attacks. There was also no pressure to press Thailand’s centre-backs either as they were happy for the ball to be played wide, and there was very little pressure from Xuân Son to press Weerathep when Thailand’s holding midfielder received the ball. No more mind games from Kim Sang-sik, just doing the simple things and hoped that they would be enough to help Vietnam saw out the game.
The host, instead, looked to counter that by playing more passes in between the lines and encouraged their attackers to make runs in behind Vietnam’s backline. This made sense considering the quality that they had up front as most of their attackers could beat the Vietnamese defenders in a 1v1 situation.
Yet, Thailand’s equaliser came out of nowhere when Vietnam had the ball inside their own defensive third and tried to play their way out of troubles. That proved to be unsuccessful, however, when (#25) Doãn Ngọc Tân dwelled on the ball for too long and made a misplaced pass. The ball then found (#13) Ben Davis, who fired a first-time shot into the bottom right corner and far away from keeper (#21) Nguyễn Đình Triệu’s reach. The away side then suffered another blow when Xuân Son fell down awkwardly after a cross and had to be taken off after just 34 minutes. 2-3 on aggregate, but the hard work started now for Vietnam since their star striker had been taken off and they would have to find someone else to rely on in their attacks.
The remainder of the first half remained cagey as both teams created a few chances here and there, but those chances did not threaten the keepers too much. With that, both teams headed into the tunnels with Vietnam still holding the one-goal lead that they got from the first leg.
Second half
With (#22) Nguyễn Tiến Linh coming on for Vietnam, they seemed to be already desperate to find a replacement for Xuân Son while also holding onto their lead for the remainder of the half. I would expect to see Vietnam’s attacks looked less coordinate now and their long passes up top would be easily intercepted by Thailand’s centre-backs.
This is not a downplay of what Vietnam had done throughout the tournament, but it was an obvious problem that was already showing way before Xuân Son made his debut for the national team. He looked very good, that is no doubt, and I appreciate his quality. But this seems to be a problem whenever Vietnam had a good player or a good generation coming through. They just grinded every single grain of quality out of those players without thinking that it could potentially do them more harm for the long run.
And Vietnam’s struggles had started without Xuân Son. They escaped a scare when keeper (#21) Đình Triệu almost held the ball outside of the box, but a lapse in concentration allowed Thailand to quickly take a free-kick and gave Supachok plenty of time to curve the ball towards the top right corner and, once again, far away from the keeper’s reach. It took a while for the situation to be solved, including potential discussions about Thailand not returning the ball when they were supposed to, but the referee allowed the goal and the aggregate score were now back on level terms at 3-3.
The match kept on giving! After two consecutive fouls where Weerathep held back (#19) Nguyễn Quang Hải and then fouled (#3) Nguyễn Văn Vĩ from behind, the Thai holding midfielder received his marching order and now Thailand would have to see out the remainder of the match with just 10 men. This…is where and why this match is called the Southeast Asian El Clasico, because with 15 minutes left of normal regulation time and the aggregate score still tied at 3-3, things have only just begun.
With that, Vietnam found their reply almost immediately. From a quick break, the away side found players in between the lines and, through a string of passes, Tuấn Hải was able to receive the ball in an unmarked situation for a half-shot, half-cross ball. Unfortunately for Thailand, centre-back (#3) Pansa Hemviboon stuck his leg out and deflected the ball into the net for Vietnam’s equaliser and also put them ahead on aggregate. But Vietnam would have to defend an onslaught of attacks from the host now, especially when Ekanit had already come onto the pitch for Thailand.
You could sense the desperation in Thailand’s play as they tried to regain the ball in every possible way, including conceding fouls. Whenever they had the ball, there would be reliance on wing attacks where passes would be aimed towards the substitute (#12) Nicholas Mickelson or either of the wingers who would be ready to make a cross into the box. But with Vietnam defended deeper and closer to their own goal, it became a lot harder for Thailand to find anyone inside of the box. And with Vietnam scoring their third goal of the day and their fifth goal of the tie through substitute (#24) Nguyễn Hai Long, the tie seemed to have wrapped up.
Wrapping up
And that was another iconic Southeast Asian El Clasico. It had dramas, it had a red card, and it had game-changing moments. Was it a good match? No, not in terms of the tactical stuff. But an El Clasico does not need that to be an iconic match. Congratulations to Vietnam as they once again prevailed and took the trophy away from the defending champion Thailand to wrap up a good ASEAN Cup edition.
Two weeks of non-stop coverage except for a single day. Wow. That was a challenge for me and I somehow have conquered it. The quality of the tournament and some of the players have surprised me, which is only a good thing to see more investments being made into the region and more naturalised players willing to come back and play for Southeast Asian teams.
With the 2024 ASEAN Cup finally wrapped up, the ASEAN Cup Diary will be retired to make way for the Notebook’s return and also a return to normality for my sleep schedule! I will see you in the next edition of the Notebook, which I hope will come out very soon as it is already a work in progress 🤞.