The void left by Xuan Son
The 2024 ASEAN Cup was a successful tournament for the Vietnamese team. Although the Vietnam Football Federation set a target of reaching the final, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team won the championship.
However, this joy was not complete when Nguyen Xuan Son suffered a serious injury in the second leg of the final. Even without Xuan Son, the Vietnamese team still won the championship. But it must be admitted that without this naturalized striker, the "Golden Star Warriors"'s playing style became much more deadlocked.
In the context that the Vietnamese team has been lacking a good striker for many years, Xuan Son's injury has made many people worried. Next March, coach Kim Sang-sik's team will continue to compete in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. The absence of Xuan Son will leave a big gap in the team's attack.
Commentator Quang Tung shared: "We had the addition of Xuan Son at the ASEAN Cup 2024 but immediately lost this player for a period that is expected to be quite long. To replace Xuan Son, currently, all of Vietnam's domestic players are very difficult to meet.
Because Xuan Son has all the elements of a striker. No Vietnamese player in recent years has had the same level of ability. This naturalized striker has a different physique, physical strength, plays with different strength, and has comprehensive finishing. Xuan Son's ability to play aggressively and create independence in attacking phases is a huge difference. The addition of Xuan Son is a great boost for Vietnamese football."
A difficult problem for coach Kim Sang-sik
After the surgery on January 6, Xuan Son has entered the first cycle of the entire treatment and recovery process. In theory, Xuan Son has the ability to return to his previous form.
According to the expected time, if he recovers well and on time, the striker of Nam Dinh team can return around September 2025. Thus, he will miss the first two matches of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers with the Vietnamese team in the match against Laos (home, March), against Malaysia (away, June).
These are two very important matches and without Xuan Son, coach Kim Sang-sik will have to calculate a suitable playing style with the current personnel.
"In the context that no domestic players have the same level as Xuan Son, and the story of having other naturalized players is also uncertain, Mr. Kim Sang-sik needs to promote and shape the team's playing style. Simple playing styles like in the 2024 ASEAN Cup should not appear often, instead, there needs to be supplementation and interweaving of different playing styles, suitable for Vietnamese people.
We can no longer use long balls to the strikers because the speed of Tien Linh, Tuan Hai, Hai Long... cannot be like Xuan Son. Instead, this is the time to need the uniqueness of individuals on the basis of team play. The organization of play from direct, central to 2-wing attacks, hitting the middle of the flank needs to be done at a better level.
I see that the current style of play of the Vietnamese team, in addition to quickly passing the ball from the back line to Xuan Son's position, we use quite a lot of attacks on the two wings at the beginning of the matches. But the approach is far from the 16m50 area, those crosses are low efficiency and have a high risk of being counter-attacked.
Like in modern football, they have to attack more in the middle, closer to the opponent's 16m50 area, then the success rate of the passes and the chance of scoring a goal will be higher," commented commentator Quang Tung.
This commentator affirmed that only by doing this will the Vietnamese team have more hope of achieving higher achievements in the Asian arena.
