Speaking of artificial turf, Vietnamese fans recall the difficult match of the “Golden Star Warriors” on the field of the Philippines team in the group stage, the match in which Doan Ngoc Tan’s equalizer only came in the 90+7 minute. Because of that, many articles and comments appeared on the media and social networks claiming that Singapore intentionally made things difficult for the Vietnam team - along with only giving away a small number of tickets to the away team’s fans.
It seems that this is an orientation that increases the tension, discomfort and anxiety of the fans about the team, along with hatred and criticism for the host Singapore. However, the players themselves do not consider the field surface to be too serious a problem. Ngoc Tan may not be too familiar with it when "showing off" the bleeding scratch in the match against the Philippines team, but Quang Hai said about the artificial turf: "I don't think there are many difficulties. The whole team has played on artificial turf many times, and has not encountered many difficulties. Each player needs to be carefully prepared to play in this condition, so that when entering the field, they will respond and comply with the playing style from the coaching staff."
In addition to the statistics showing that in the past, the Vietnam team has had quite good results when playing on artificial turf, there is no need to worry too much when the team plays in Kallang. Because the Jalan Besar field was upgraded from 1 star (FIFA 1 Star Recommended Turf) in 2006 - costing about 1 million USD, to 2 stars in 2008 (costing about 500,000 USD more), then in 2021 it was replaced with GreenFields Evolution Pro 40 grass, softer than previous types of grass. It includes a durable shock-absorbing pad under the surface of the field, increasing the tightness and reducing the hardness of the field.
In the end, any pitch forces players to adapt to their skill set. If they can't adapt or have difficulty, it's their fault, not the pitch!?
