10 years of brand affirmation
Que Ngoc Hai is a central defender with a fiery playing style, not afraid of collisions, and decisive in entering and exiting. His idol is Sergio Ramos, so to some extent, he has learned this central defender's playing style.
10 years ago, Que Ngoc Hai had his first match in the Vietnam national team under coach Miura. In addition to his defensive ability, another strength of this central defender that the Japanese coach exploited was his long passes to the strikers.
At that time, coach Miura built the Vietnamese team with a power play style based on players with good physique and physical strength. Que Ngoc Hai was given the “green light” to be able to play the role of a playmaker when the opportunity arose. And the long passes gradually became the personal mark of the central defender from Nghe An every time he played.
And over the past 10 years, at both club and national team levels, Que Ngoc Hai has been perfecting his playing style day by day to eventually become the leader of the Vietnam team. At the same time, he always knows how to put his teammates in favorable situations.
Highlights in the playing style of the Vietnamese team
Facing two opponents, Russia and Thailand, in the friendly tournament that just ended at My Dinh Stadium on the evening of September 10, the Vietnamese team lost both matches with a score of 0-3 against Russia and 1-2 against arch-rival Thailand.
Coach Kim Sang-sik's team seems to have not yet clearly defined their playing style after 2 matches. The rare bright spot is the stable performance of central defender Que Ngoc Hai and his cross-field passes that create highlights for the Vietnamese team's attacks.
In the match against Russia, two passes opened up opportunities for Bui Vi Hao and Pham Tuan Hai to threaten the opponent's goal. In the match against Thailand, this central defender played the role of creating a quick free kick from the home field for Tien Linh to take advantage of and score the opening goal of the match.
Even after being led 2-1 by his opponent, in the second half, Que Ngoc Hai often moved up to block and played as a midfielder. There were many situations where this central defender's crosses or long passes made the opponent confused before they could resolve them.
Que Ngoc Hai's performance in the match against Thailand proved why Thai media considers Hai to be the most dangerous player of the Vietnamese team, not Hoang Duc, Tien Linh or Quang Hai.
The return of Que Ngoc Hai to the defense after a long period of injury is considered a good sign for coach Kim Sang-sik in the process of perfecting the playing style for the Vietnamese team, aiming for the important goal of the ASEAN Cup which will take place at the end of this year.
Que Ngoc Hai is about to make history in Vietnamese football.
Accordingly, with his appearance in two recent friendly matches against Russia and Thailand, the central defender from Nghe An has played a total of 78 times for the Vietnamese national team. This number also helps him equal the record of assistant Pham Thanh Luong and is only behind Le Cong Vinh with 83 appearances.
The Vietnamese team has two more friendly matches in October, along with the ASEAN Cup campaign at the end of the year, so Que Ngoc Hai is likely to soon "equal" Le Cong Vinh's record. If all goes well, he could even become the player with the most appearances for the national team in the history of Vietnamese football after the ASEAN Cup 2024 campaign.
