Vietnam temporarily won first place in Group B after a 1-1 draw with the Philippines on the evening of December 18 at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Despite being behind, the Vietnamese team still managed to equalize in the final minutes of extra time thanks to Doan Ngoc Tan, leaving the field with 1 point. However, with only 1 point against the Philippines, the Vietnamese team is still not sure of a place in the semi-finals.
After 3 matches in the group stage, coach Kim Sang-sik's team has also revealed many problems in terms of playing style as well as the ability to take advantage of opportunities to gain an advantage.
Except for the match with Laos, in the two matches with Indonesia and the Philippines, we had many difficult moments because we could not implement the game coherently and effectively.
In particular, during the first 45 minutes of the match, Duy Manh and his teammates played quite poorly. That is the reason why coach Kim Sang-sik's players could not score in the first half in the last 3 matches. This shows that the Vietnamese team's participation in the matches was not really impressive.
Although leading the group, the number of goals scored by the Vietnamese team is only 6. Meanwhile, the team at the bottom of the group, Laos, also has 7 goals.
Finishing is also one of the issues that Kim Sang-sik's students need to improve in the next matches. The first match is the decisive match for the ticket to the next round with opponent Myanmar.
The physical issue is also something that makes Mr. Kim Sang-sik worried about his players due to the high competition schedule. If we had previously had 3 points against the Philippines and had quickly secured a ticket to the semi-finals, we could have let the key players rest.
Vietnam will have to face Myanmar in the final match of the group stage, and at the same time, win the top spot in the group to avoid meeting Thailand early in the semi-finals. If they meet one of the two opponents, Malaysia or Singapore, in the semi-finals, it will be easier.
