Change to maintain the throne
Half of the Vietnamese national team's ASEAN Cup 2024 championship squad is not named in coach Kim Sang-sik's plan when heading towards defending the Southeast Asian crown. The South Korean strategist's decision to change forces is considered reasonable. Nearly 2 years after regaining the No. 1 position in the region, Vietnamese football's internal strength has changed a lot.
Veterans such as Bui Tien Dung, Nguyen Filip, Nguyen Dinh Trieu, Vu Van Thanh, Nguyen Tien Linh, Pham Tuan Hai, Doan Ngoc Tan... have their own problems with form, injuries, and physical condition.
In parallel with that, the U23 Vietnam players including Ngoc My, Dinh Bac, Van Khang, Trung Kien, Nhat Minh are strong enough after many regional and continental youth tournaments.
Not to mention, the successful naturalization of Do Hoang Hen, Patrik Le Giang, Nguyen Tai Loc, Ngo Dang Khoa helped coach Kim Sang-sik expand the selection of personnel.
In theory, most players who join the Vietnamese national team in this gathering are in high form in the V.League. In the goalkeeper position, Le Giang, along with Dang Van Lam and Tran Trung Kien, will compete fiercely.
The left-back area also gives Mr. Kim many options, from Doan Van Hau to Nguyen Van Vi, Khuat Van Khang, Phan Tuan Tai. On the opposite side, Truong Tien Anh is the top choice. However, Le Van Do or Pham Xuan Manh are also options that can be rotated.
In the center-back position, veteran names including Do Duy Manh, Nguyen Thanh Chung, Bui Hoang Viet Anh are not easy to take a starting spot, in the context that Nguyen Nhat Minh, Dinh Quang Kiet are in high form at the club.
A similar story happened in the forward line. Choosing a "three-pointed spearhead" with "lethal" power is not easy, when Pham Gia Hung, Nguyen Tai Loc, Nguyen Dinh Bac, Nguyen Xuan Son, Nguyen Tran Viet Cuong, Nguyen Ngoc My, Ngo Dang Khoa, Do Hoang Hen all deserve to play.
The central midfielder group may make it difficult for Mr. Kim to find 2 starting faces among the 3 names including Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen Hoang Duc and Le Pham Thanh Long.
Starting with the task at the ASEAN Cup
In addition to the internal quality competition, the advantage for the Vietnamese team comes from the fact that opponents do not have the best number of players at the Southeast Asian tournament.
Malaysia is in the reconstruction phase after the wave of naturalization completely failed. The use of players against regulations has caused this team to suffer a strong blow with a series of penalties from FIFA and AFC. That shock also hurts the trust of fans as well as affects the process of developing Malaysian football's internal strength.
With Indonesia, the national team version during FIFA Days and not belonging to the international schedule are completely different. Coach John Herdman himself admitted that at ASEAN Cup 2026, he can only use an average force with the majority of faces playing in the Indonesian national championship, instead of stars playing football in Europe.
The reason comes from the fact that the Southeast Asian tournament is not on the FIFA Days schedule. In the context of preparing for the new season, European clubs cannot agree to release players to the archipelago team.
A similar story with Thailand but on a smaller scale. Thai League clubs do not accept to let key players join the national team in the process of preparing for the domestic league. This makes coach Anthony Hudson headache.
Thai football is falling into a "aging" phase. The young players lack the level to succeed the veteran generation like Chanathip Songkrasin, Sarach Yooyen or Theerathon Bunmathan. Even more recently, Mr. Hudson had to call up "veteran" Teerasil Dangda because the young striker is not sharp enough.
Analyze the opponents and assess the internal strength to see that the Vietnamese team has too many advantages to successfully defend the ASEAN Cup championship.
