ASEAN Cup Diary: Semi-final First leg
It's a merry, merry ASEAN Cup semi-final!
Happy holidays everyone! It is also the first leg of the ASEAN Cup semi-final with group A runners-up Singapore hosting and hoping to cause an upset against one of the two title favourites and group B winner Vietnam. Meanwhile, group A winner Thailand welcomes tournament dark horse and group B runners-up, the Philippines. This is going to be the start of feisty clashes and a lot of dramas, so let’s get into it!
Singapore vs Vietnam
With a home advantage, Singapore obviously went out with their strongest lineup as the key names like (#3) Ryhan Stewart playing as the left midfielder, defensive midfielder (#6) Shah Shahiran, and striker (#20) Shawal Anuar all started from the beginning. Meanwhile, Vietnam continued to surprise me with their lineup picks as they seemed to have shifted to a 3-4-3 now that striker (#12) Nguyễn Xuân Son was able to start more frequently. Supporting him was two wingers (#15) Bùi Vĩ Hào and (#18) Đinh Thanh Bình, while Vietnam’s continuous problem of not having good wing-backs was still on display as they had a central midfielder in (#5) Trương Tiến Anh and a winger (#26) Khuất Văn Khang played as the left and right wing-backs respectively.
Singapore survived an early scare when Thanh Bình’s attempt was ruled out by VAR as the Vietnamese winger was caught offside from a corner. But overall, the first few minutes looked decent for the host. They did not afraid to play out from the back by having all four defenders stayed back to gain numerical advantage, while two midfielders Shahiran and (#16) Hami Syahin stayed in front of Vietnam’s midfield line. This, however, looked to just be an attempt to bait the away side to press higher as they would look for long passes over the top to encourage attackers like Anuar or winger (#9) Glenn Kweh make runs in behind.
Vietnam, on the other hand, was happy to sit back in their 5-4-1 mid-block and looked to prevent Singapore from playing through the lines. They aimed to guide the opposition wide and then used overloads to regain possession. Pretty casual stuff. What they had as an advantage was the fact that they were defending with a back five, which prevented Anuar or Kweh from making runs in behind thanks to numerical advantage.
A small problem that Vietnam was facing was their goalkeeper, (#21) Nguyễn Đình Triệu, could not handle the ball well when being asked to do so from corners or crosses. He tended to punch the ball away more often and did not find himself comfortable when a cross came into his area. Singapore has tried to exploit this on a couple of occasions, but so far, none of their attempts have yielded anything noticeable. Meanwhile, the host also had a small problem themselves as they looked a bit unsettled when losing the ball in their own half, the players could not regroup quick enough and left the defensive line a bit vulnerable. Similar to their attacking players, Vietnam have not been able to capitalise on that problem…yet.
Singapore looked more dangerous when they countered even though they looked like they had a plan for settled possession. Long passes played out wide have found either Stewart or Kweh, they only problem was both players could not keep the ball for long when being challenged by a Vietnamese defender or their passes just misplaced and halted the attacking momentum. At the back, the centre-back pairing of (#15) Lionel Tan and (#21) Safuwan Baharudin have stood strong so far as they have thrown challenges left and right to unsettle Xuân Son and prevented him from getting a lot of time on the ball. Cagey first with nothing between two teams, neither did enough to score a goal, but this was expected to be a game of counter-attacks more than settled possession.
Into the second half and Singapore still seemed to be the team in control, but the clash remained cagey with both teams wasted chances after chances, especially the host. Even though they brought on (#10) Faris Ramli and (#13) Taufik Suparno, they still could not get past a strong Vietnamese backline. Meanwhile, Vietnam also brought on their own attacker in (#22) Nguyễn Tiến Linh for potential counter-attacks where they could utilise his pace. He has gotten himself into a few goal-scoring chances so far, but they have all not been that dangerous. Each team also has an attempt ruled out by VAR as well, either by offside or by handball.
A bit poor that the match had to be decided by a penalty, but it was a penalty that Singapore did not have to concede if (#11) Shahir Hamzah dealt with the aerial challenge a bit better. Did not take long for Vietnam to score their second goal as well as Xuân Son got to the ball after Singapore players could not clear the ball properly. The Brazilian-born striker deserved the goal having been one of the better players throughout the match for his team.
Summary
It was a cagey match up until the last few minutes and into the stoppage times, but I thought it is a shame that the game had to be decided by a penalty for what both teams have shown because it could have set up an interesting second leg. Singapore and Vietnam showed solid defensive work to deny the opposition’s attacking attempts with a few players stood out among the defences. When both teams started to push forward, especially for Singapore, that was when gaps started to be exposed and mistakes being exploited. Tough result for Singapore, but a result that Vietnam will take all day, which will potentially set up a one-way clash in the next few days.
Thailand vs Philippines
Through their starting lineup, both teams showed their intention of wanting to take control of the tie almost straight away. The Philippines started with their strongest lineup as every key players started except for keeper (#1) Patrick Deyto who could not recover in time, and in his place was (#16) Quincy Kammeraad. Albert Capellas also given the first start of the tournament for (#21) Santiago Rublico, who filled in as the left winger instead of his preferred left-back position. Thailand, once again, surprised me with their rotations as they left players like full-back (#12) Nicholas Mickelson, central midfielder (#19) William Weidersjö, and winger (#11) Anan Yodsangwal on the bench. But, three names immediately caught my attention as they fielded winger (#10) Suphanat Mueanta, striker (#9) Patrik Gustavsson, and most noticeably, winger (#7) Supachok Sarachat. A scary attacking trio that from Thailand!
Interesting decision by Thailand to press the Philippines with a 4-4-2 formation and attempted to match the host’s numbers when they tried to play out from the back. This allowed them to go directly man-to-man with the intention of disrupting passing triangles that would be created by the Philippines, and it had worked so far as the host found it difficult to play out from the back and was forced to make long passes over the top on a few occasions.
The only solution for the Philippines seemed to be play the ball wide and tried their best to squeeze through Thailand’s overload through the combination between a full-back, central midfielder, and winger on the same side. It worked to some extent, but once they got to the byline, most of their crosses just got blocked by Thailand’s full-backs or striker (#9) Bjørn Kristensen would not be able to get near the ball because Thailand centre-back (#4) Jonathan Khemdee has dealt with the Norwegian-born striker well.
At the other end, Thailand was looking towards counter-attacks being led by either Suphanat or Supachok on either flank, coming from occasions where they would successfully regained possession from the Philippines. A lot of those attacks still looked like chaos movements for me, but it managed to exploit the fact that the host tended to commit too many players forward and not leaving enough players behind to defend, which had resulted in a few chances for Thailand so far.
The brightest spark of the Philippines so far has been (#6) Sandro Reyes and (#13) Alex Monis down the right-hand side. Both players had the technical ability to take on Thailand defenders and caused plenty of troubles on that same side. As I wrote this, they worked with each other once more to create the opening goal of the match, where Monis dribbled the ball to the byline and made a cutback to Reyes, who took a shot from the edge of the box that went out of reach of Thailand’s keeper (#1) Phitiwat Khammai. Seriously, Reyes needs to secure a move somewhere better than FC Gütersloh after this tournament.
Took long enough but Thailand finally found their equaliser, and it was through a counter-attack where the away side exploited the problem that I mentioned above. The fact that the Philippines’ rest defence from a corner was just a single player when they were leading 1-0 allowed Thailand to create a counter-attack that was hard to defend against. With Suphanat and Gustavsson leading the counter, the away side dribbled the ball towards the byline and managed to make a cross into the box for a free (#21) Suphanan Bureerat to easily head the ball into the net. 1-1 was the score at half time.
Into the second half and Thailand has already bolstered their offensive stock by bringing Mickelson on to fill in at left-back. The decision also made sense from the defensive point of view, the Philippines have been endlessly attacking down the right-hand side with Reyes and Monis. Mickelson’s presence along with Khemdee would be the solution to temper that threat to allow them to regain control of the match, which they have managed to do so. A few chances were created in the early minutes where players like Suphanat or attacking midfielder (#16) Akarapong Pumwisat would be in a position for an easy tap-in, yet they somehow put the ball over the top of the net.
The Philippines still decided to defend in a flat 4-3-3 mid-block, which came as a bit of a surprise for me. I understood the decision to go with the 4-3-3 since it allowed the host to overload one side of the pitch and prevented Thailand from playing through and wide of their block. This, however, brought a disadvantage because the Thai defenders have been using long passes to switch the play and found a winger on the opposite side being unmarked, allowing Thailand to progress their attack more effectively.
Since around the 60th-minute mark, Thailand have seemingly taken control of the match as they generated waves of attack after waves of attack. The away side also had more shots inside of the box and more dangerous chances, but they lacked a bit of precision and luck to convert their chances into goals. Meanwhile, the Philippines had been pushed back and had to be content with just sitting back and hold out for a counter-attacking chance. Worth noticing, though, that left-back (#5) Scott Woods have been looking quite decent since coming on to replace captain (#20) Michael Kempter. The Norwegian-born player controlled the situation well, even the aerial ones, and have made the host’s left-hand side looked more solid defensively.
And the Philippines got what they deserved in the last minutes of the match. From a free-kick delivered by (#17) Zico Bailey, he found left-back (#3) Paul Tabinas making a run at the back post and was unmarked. This allowed Tabinas to head the ball into the 6-yard box where centre-back (#4) Kike Linares was waiting to head the ball home for their winning goal. You could tell how much that meant to the home fans when the whole stadium erupted.
Summary
Just an absolutely brilliant match, no words needed. A tactical battle at the highest level where the Philippines’ Albert Capellas just outplayed Masatada Ishii’s Thailand even though they were on the back foot for the majority of the match. It was also a great team performance that required and asked a lot from the players of the home team, which they delivered and was no less than deserved. The second-leg will definitely be a clash to watch.
What an absolute blast the first leg of the semi-final was. Very, very interesting tactical battles along with dramas during stoppage times. Vietnam and Singapore held each other for a cagey match before the pressure was released during the last few minutes when the host started to look for goals, which was also when Vietnam started to get close enough for two goals to head back home. Meanwhile, Thailand could not capitalise their position as the favourite of the clash against the Philippines to gain an advantage as they suffered a late winning goal to head back home having to chase a one-goal lead. This will set up two very fascinating clashes in the second-leg, which will take place after a one-day break. Until then, it’s me signing off!