Commentator Quang Huy: Van Lam is too psychological, should not be the main referee in the match against Russia

After the 0-3 loss of the Vietnamese team to the Russian team at My Dinh Stadium on the evening of September 5, goalkeeper Dang Van Lam was the most mentioned name on the home team's side. Since Nguyen Filip appeared, Van Lam's position in the goal is no longer guaranteed.

The friendly match with Russia is an opportunity for Van Lam to achieve a double goal. The 31-year-old goalkeeper needs to have a good start to score points in the eyes of coach Kim Sang-sik , thereby opening the way to compete with Filip again. Then, when the ASEAN Cup starts, he will have enough confidence and accumulation to compete equally with Filip. However, Van Lam cannot achieve both of these goals.

"Before this match, when some people asked about my opinion, if I were the head coach, the person chosen for the goalkeeper position would be Nguyen Filip, Van Lam should be reserved for the match against Thailand.

Although this is just a friendly match, there will be some pressure. We saw how confused Phan Van Santos looked when Vietnam played a friendly match with Brazil in 2008. Santos was the first naturalized player to play for Vietnam, had a good chance to prove himself but showed a very bad performance when singing the Brazilian national anthem while wearing the Vietnam shirt.

Perhaps, Van Lam also faced the same psychological dilemma. Everyone was eager to meet the players in the country where they were born and raised. Van Lam was not able to break out of such psychological entanglements.

The decision to choose who to start is up to the head coach and that needs to be respected. Whatever the result, he will be the one responsible. I feel sorry for Van Lam and the entire Vietnam team when they lost the first two goals in such a scenario" - Commentator Quang Huy shared.

This performance of Van Lam raises the question for fans, in the match against Thailand in 4 days and the whole journey of ASEAN Cup at the end of the year, can the 31-year-old goalkeeper compete with Nguyen Filip? Furthermore, is there any chance for Van Lam to be the main goalkeeper for the Vietnam national team?

"In terms of professional level, I rate Nguyen Filip as superior to Van Lam. In friendly tournaments like this, the head coach can give everyone the opportunity to play. However, when it comes to official tournaments, Mr. Kim must definitely have a specific choice.

I feel sorry for Filip because the time he started playing for the national team was also when the team was led by Mr. Philippe Troussier. Filip was very unlucky to fall into a period when the Vietnamese team played very poorly, so he had to pick the ball out of the net too much. Besides, there were a few situations where he made mistakes but maybe the reason was due to the team's declining form.

I think this is the reason why Mr. Kim is in a dilemma in choosing Filip or Van Lam for the match against Russia" - Commentator Quang Huy commented.

Losing 0-3 to Russia, the Vietnamese team will have 4 days off and practice to prepare for the big match with Thailand on September 10. Meanwhile, on the evening of September 7, Valery Karpin and his team will face the "War Elephants" of Thailand.