ASEAN Cup Diary: Semi-final Second leg
It's the dramas. It's the goals. It's the chaos. It's the tears of joy. And we will be here for all of them.
Wow. The first leg of the semi-final absolutely delivered! There were stoppage time goals for Vietnam and heartbreak for Singapore, and then there were dramas for the Philippines as they caused an upset against one of the tournament favourites in Thailand. They have set up what is expected to be an outstanding finish to the semi-final of the ASEAN Cup to determine the two best teams that will be in the final in about a few days time. So let’s not wait any longer and get stuck into the second leg!
Vietnam vs Indonesia
With a 2-0 lead, it was not a surprise when Vietnam chose to rotate and fielded a few new players in wing-backs (#17) Vũ Văn Thanh and (#7) Phạm Xuân Mạnh, central midfielder (#25) Doãn Ngọc Tân, and two new attacking midfielders in (#8) Châu Ngọc Quang and (#24) Nguyễn Hai Long. Meanwhile, Singapore welcomed midfielder (#7) Kyoga Nakamura back into their midfield along with (#14) Hariss Harun into a team that remained mostly the same from the first leg of the semi-final.
Right off the bat, Singapore showed their intention of wanting to attack by pressing aggressively inside Vietnam’s own half. They forced turnovers by Vietnam midfielders and created counter-attacks that put a bit of threat onto the host’s goal, which had resulted in a situation where (#10) Faris Ramli put the ball into the net, yet it was ruled out for offside. The host also had a disallowed goal themselves when Ngọc Quang fouled one of Singapore’s defenders before heading the ball into the back of the net.
I thought it was interesting that Singapore still tried to play out from the back and used pretty much all of their defenders to get involved into the build up phase. This meant that their midfielders were matched one-to-one while their striker (#20) Shawal Anuar was left all alone in the central area as their wingers stayed wide like traditional wingers. Lots of their attacks also used the wingers with goalkeeper (#1) Izwan Mahbud making long passes over the top for Ramli or (#9) Glenn Kweh to make runs in behind. The problem was, since Vietnam played with a back five, they could easily dominate the attackers in the air and cleared the ball before the Singapore players could bring it down. If the away side insisted on using that as their main attacking plan, it was hard to see how they could get back into the match.
Meanwhile, Vietnam relied heavily on counter-attacks to create chances since Singapore’s long passes pinned them down quite deep into their own half. But because most of the away side’s attacks were not that effective, they managed to regain possession and quickly put pressure on a vulnerable Singapore rest defence. And from a corner that Vietnam got as a result of one of the counter-attacks, they received a penalty as centre-back (#15) Lionel Tan pulled striker (#12) Nguyễn Xuân Son down inside the penalty box. Tan almost received a red card, but Singapore still conceded the penalty which put the lead now up to three goals. The task was already tough for the away side, now it remained tougher with the penalty. 1-0 was the scoreline at half-time.
Even now with (#3) Ryhan Stewart coming on to replace Ramli as the left winger, Singapore still found it tough to break through Vietnam’s defensive block due to the lack of attacking numbers inside of the box. They relied on Anuar who, at his best, could only be the poacher for the team, and with three centre-backs surrounding him, there was no way for him to be involved in the play or connected with any of the crosses. Meanwhile, at the back, the away side made another mistake to allow midfielder (#14) Nguyễn Hoàng Đức to steal the ball and sent a low cross into the box for Xuân Son to score his second goal of the match and fifth goal of the tournament. 2-0, and the tie looked to be finish now.
After endless attempts to attack and find the breakthrough, Singapore have finally found that through one of their better players in Nakamura. A long shot from outside of the box went out of Vietnam’s keeper reach and helped them clawed one back in a match that seemed almost impossible to win. But, as the match went into extra time, Singapore conceded their third penalty of the tie when left-back (#5) Amirul Adli pushed substitute (#3) Nguyễn Văn Vĩ in the box and allowed another substitute (#22) Nguyễn Tiến Linh to score the third goal of the match. Worth noticing that the referee tonight was very strict as he handed out a total of 8 yellow cards and almost handed out a red card early into the first half while blew his whistle for a total of 33 fouls. That explained the penalties and why the match seemed like a fight between the two teams.
Summary
Even though Singapore played good football at times, Vietnam just did not seem like they would lose this tie even though they have been playing a defensive-oriented style of football. With a back five, Vietnam completely shut out Singapore’s attacking plans and isolated their most dangerous threats in Shawal Anuar and Faris Ramli. There were a few more ways tried but Vietnam’s defensive block just did not budge whatsoever, while Singapore conceded penalties after penalties at the back and made the task for the attackers even harder as the tie went on. Overall, Vietnam deserved to win the match and heartbreaks for Singapore as they will have to go again.
Thailand vs Philippines
Even though they were chasing the tie, Masatada Ishii continued to keep Thailand fans guessing as he rotated a few key players and started a new centre-back duo in (#5) Chalermsak Auksee and (#3) Pansa Hemviboon, midfielder (#25) Seksan Ratree, and winger (#13) Ben Davis for this home tie. Albert Capellas also made a few changes with centre-back (#12) Amani Aguinaldo, midfielder (#8) Michael Baldisimo, winger (#24) Javier Mariona, and striker (#9) Jarvey Gayoso started in a relatively similar team to the team that started first leg. With these changes, the Philippines hoped that they could continue to push Thailand and tried to win the tie.
With pretty much the same approach as the first leg, the Philippines went out trying to dominate possession and control the game. The difference, though, was that Thailand were now under pressure of having to win and they wanted to press the Philippines from inside their own half. On the other end, the host were also trying to capitalise on the fact that their opposition was playing a high line and tried to bait them to go further up the pitch, leaving the space in behind exposed for long passes over the top. So far, Thailand have been able to create a few chances here and there and got close to scoring a goal, but they have not had that much luck and could not beat the Philippines keeper (#16) Quincy Kammeraad. But with the pressure that they were creating, it seemed inevitable that the Philippines would crack anyway, unless they could find another goal to make the tie more secure.
It had been coming with Thailand’s endless attacking pressure down the wings with the host relied on cutbacks or low crosses into the box. Then, it took one attack for attacking midfielder Ratree to get to the byline and delivered a low cutback into the box, which was not cleared properly by centre-back (#2) Adrian Ugelvik, and allowed captain (#8) Peeradon Chamratsamee to score an easy goal. I was intrigued to see what the Philippines’ reaction would be now considering Thailand had been the dominant team throughout the first half and the away side could not find a way to create chances. At the very least, however, they managed to hold out until half time to give themselves a chance to regroup and restart again.
I think the decision to play Mariona on the left has not proven to be the correct one as the US-based winger just could not challenge the Thai players defensively and put more pressure on left-back (#20) Michael Kempter, especially when Thailand already knew about this and have been trying to exploit that same problem. Meanwhile, offensively, his attempted take-ons also could not beat his opposition and usually resulted in a turnover in possession for the Philippines. Ugelvik was also a problem at the back for the Philippines since he made a couple of passing mistakes that led to his team turning the ball over inside their own half. Capellas seemed to have addressed that by bringing on the winning goalscorer of last match (#4) Kike Linares.
That, did not seem to stop the turnovers, however, as once again the Philippines turned the ball over inside their own half. This allowed (#18) Weerathep Pomphan to steal the ball and played striker (#9) Patrik Gustavsson through on goal, and the Swedish-born striker did not miss a golden opportunity like that. Weerathep was also one of the better players for Thailand as he slotted straight into the #6 position and played as a ball-winning midfielder, which he had done well with his tackles and interceptions to stop the Philippines from creating proper chances towards Thailand’s goal.
The Philippines have now started to react to the fact that they have lost their aggregate lead, especially when they have brought on striker (#9) Bjørn Kristensen to play up top and pushed Gayoso out to the left. Thailand have also reacted with their own way by dropping into a mid-block with a high defensive line and brought on centre-back (#4) Jonathan Khemdee to deal with the Philippines’ new attacking threat. Not sure how that would help the away side, but let’s see. Lots of fouls and challenges have been thrown out by the home side in an attempt to disrupt the Philippines too, so that did not help them either.
Uh…well, I was proven wrong! On one of the rare occasions when Kristensen actually managed to control the ball, he made a turn on Khemdee and created space for a shot that went into the bottom right corner, far away from goalkeeper (#1) Patiwat Khammai’s reach. It was 3-3 at the 85th minute, and even though I was not even sure if the away goal rule was still in play, that did not matter now that both teams have scored an away goal. So…extra time if the aggregate score remained at 3-3, I guess? And the Philippines just had to miss a great chance to get ahead on aggregate as Aguinaldo’s header got stopped by Khammai, then Gayoso’s shot was saved onto the crossbar, and Aguinaldo’s second attempt was blocked by Khemdee. This one would be fun for the xG timeline!
Also, seemed to be that there would be no more tactics at this point. Maybe tidbits here and there, but this stage would just be two teams trying to attack and find the winning goal while desperately defend to not allow the opposition to do exactly what the team were trying to do. It was just a game of who would make the first crucial mistake, and that game would go onto extra time…
Interesting that, now with (#10) Suphanat Mueanta coming onto the field, Thailand would definitely have the fire power to score goals. They did not have Gustavsson for the extra time duration, however, and the other substitute striker (#14) Teerasak Poeiphimai was also taken off after coming on during regulation time. Interesting dynamic for Thailand as they asked the question, how could they score with three wingers on the pitch. And yet they found it through Suphanat inside the second half of extra time, from a cross made by (#22) Worachit Kanitsribampen, the far post was overloaded and allowed Suphanat to outmuscle the Philippines’ left-back (#3) Paul Tabinas to head the ball home. That was the mistake that I wanted to talk about when it came to deciding the match.
Summary
Just not the sort of match that Thailand would have lost, really. They dominated and pushed the Philippines for the majority of the match and it just seemed inevitable that, under that kind of pressure from the host, the Philippines would crumble. The away side did fight back and managed to score a goal, but they will definitely look back at Aguinaldo and Gayoso’s chances and think “what if we had scored them”. But they have been such a blast this tournament and an amazing team to watch, so I am excited to watch more of the Philippines in the future.
And there you have it! As promised, the dramas, the goals, and the chaos. They have all been delivered. Vietnam and Thailand will meet each other again in the ASEAN Cup final in however many times at the expense of two good teams to watch this tournament in Singapore and the Philippines. One team had it easy and controlled their semi-final clash, while the other had to fight hard to book the spot in the final. Everything will come down in 2025. As for now, my coverage of the semi-final is over, I wish you a Happy New Year and I will see you again for the two-legged final in 2025!
Great coverage of the matches! One tactical aspect that really flew under the radar was the Vietnamese team's reliance on Van Son to hold up play using his physical prowess, directing balls toward him from the deeper regions. This tactical tweak really gave Vietnam an edge compared to the first-leg when they didn't do this as often. Van Son did the job phenomenally, not only helped with Vietnam's counter-attacking plays but also struck fear into the Singapore's defense, leading to the penalty!
Looking forward to the final against Thailand!