Why does the Thai team highly value Nguyen Xuan Son?

“The most important player in the Vietnam squad is probably Nguyen Xuan Son. After the semi-final, we have to play away in the first leg of the final, I personally want the team to have the best possible result, or a victory.

I will not share how to deal with Xuan Son because this is a team secret," coach Masatada Ishii of the Thai team said before the first leg of the 2024 ASEAN Cup final.

The Japanese strategist's high opinion of Nguyen Xuan Son is well-founded. According to statistics from the ASEAN Cup 2024 homepage, the star of the Vietnamese team is leading in scoring efficiency. He has only played 3 matches in this year's tournament, but has scored 5 goals.

On average, Nguyen Xuan Son will score 1 goal every 54 minutes. This efficiency is much higher than Tien Linh (70 minutes/goal), Patrik Gustavsson (84 minutes/goal) or Suphanat (100 minutes/goal). In addition to his sharp finishing and neat handling, Nguyen Xuan Son also contributes a lot to the attacking ability of the Vietnamese team.

This striker has 2 assists and 9 breakthrough passes. He only had 13 shots in 3 matches, but 7 of them were on target and scored 5 goals. Nguyen Xuan Son is very dangerous in 1-on-1 situations, choosing the right position to shoot.

Possessing an ideal physique, abundant physical strength, and strong passing, Nguyen Xuan Son can be a good wall player or handle the ball himself, even when turning his back to the opponent's goal. It can be affirmed that Nguyen Xuan Son is the most dangerous attacking player that Thai central defenders have faced since the beginning of the tournament.

The Vietnamese striker has clear advantages when facing Thai central defenders such as Pansa Hemviboon, Jonathan Khemdee or Chalermsak Aukke - who have good physique but are slow to turn.

In September 2024, the Vietnamese team lost 1-2 to Thailand at My Dinh Stadium. The starting lineup of the Vietnamese team at that time only had a few familiar faces competing in the ASEAN Cup 2024 this year such as Nguyen Tien Linh, Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen Thanh Chung and Pham Xuan Manh.

The team has almost completely “transformed” compared to a few months ago. Among them, Nguyen Xuan Son is the biggest change. The presence of a sharp striker, playing “smartly” and working hard for his teammates like Xuan Son, helps the midfielders of the Vietnam team like Hoang Duc, Quang Hai or Doan Ngoc Tan more easily deploy the ball up front.

Most importantly, the Thai players have never faced Xuan Son directly, so it is not easy to "guess" this star. They are familiar with the style of Tien Linh, Quang Hai or Tuan Hai, but Xuan Son has a completely different style.

Because of that, the Thai team has a lot of respect for Nguyen Xuan Son. The star of Nam Dinh team is also the most expected player of Vietnam team in the upcoming 2 final matches. Especially at Viet Tri stadium, Nguyen Xuan Son will receive great encouragement, after scoring 4 goals in 2 matches here.