In the first leg of the semi-final, the Vietnamese team won 2-0 against Singapore at Jalan Besar Stadium. This result helped coach Kim Sang-sik and his team maintain their impressive form at the 2024 ASEAN Cup with an unbeaten streak (4 wins, 1 draw).
The recent victory helped the "Golden Star Warriors" open the door to the final match of this year's tournament. With just a draw in the second leg of the semi-final, Duy Manh and his teammates will surely advance.
This is not too difficult a task for coach Kim Sang-sik's players, especially in the context of the attack line maintaining high performance. Nguyen Xuan Son is making a difference in the Vietnam team thanks to his strength, speed, agility and high-class playing technique.
This naturalized striker possesses the ability to handle situations independently even when being closely monitored by the opponent, so he always brings many opportunities for the Vietnamese team. 3 goals and 2 assists after 2 matches are enough for fans to continue to expect Xuan Son to shine in the upcoming match.
With 2 away goals, the Vietnamese team is now quite comfortable mentally entering the rematch with Singapore at Viet Tri Stadium. However, at the press conference before the match, coach Kim Sang-sik emphasized: "We won 2-0 and have one foot in the final, but this score is still not safe and the whole team needs to be more carefully prepared."
The caution of the Korean coach is completely understandable. In this context, the Singapore team will be the team that has to actively attack to find goals.
For the away team, losing by 2 goals at home is posing a huge challenge for coach Tsutomu Ogura and his team before this second leg semi-final match.
Besides the difference in squad quality and form, having to play away will create a lot of pressure for the Singapore team to come back against the Vietnam team in the rematch.
The head-to-head record is also in favor of the home team. Singapore has never won against Vietnam in the past 26 years with 7 draws and 8 losses. Therefore, the Vietnamese team is rated very highly compared to its opponent Singapore.
When the opponent needs to actively attack to find a goal, it is likely that Vietnam will play defensively and counterattack. This will be the time for Xuan Son and his teammates to show their speed and danger in their lightning-fast attacks.
This promises to help the red team create a good performance in the next 90 minutes. However, the Vietnamese team is the only team in this year's tournament that has not scored in the first half. Coach Kim Sang-sik needs to make adjustments to help his players become sharper in scoring goals in the early stages of the match.
With the home ground of Viet Tri as the support, if they play at their best, the Vietnamese team can completely win a ticket to the final of the ASEAN Cup 2024.
The match between Vietnam and Singapore will take place at 8:00 p.m. on December 29 at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho).
Expected lineup
Vietnam team: Dinh Trieu, Tien Dung, Xuan Manh, Thanh Chung, Quang Hai, Hoang Duc, Van Khang, Thanh Binh, Tien Anh, Xuan Son, Vi Hao.
Singapore team: Mahbud, Safuwan Baharudin, Adli, Lionel Tan, Najeeb, Stewart, Sulaiman, Syahin, Shahiran, Anuar, Kweh.
