Identify Philippine opponents

In the match against Laos on December 15, the Philippines conceded a goal in the 33rd minute, after midfielder Baldisimo scored an own goal. In the previous match against Myanmar on December 12, the Philippines conceded a goal even earlier, in the 25th minute, after a goal by Maung Maung Lwin.

This detail reflects the Philippines team's habit of starting very slowly. Their defense is not focused, and they are slow to warm up at the beginning of matches. This is a weakness of the Philippines, which has been successfully exploited by their opponents in this year's tournament, including Myanmar and Laos. The Vietnam team can also pay attention to this weakness of their opponents when they face the Philippines at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila tomorrow.

The problem for the Vietnamese team is that if we want to exploit the Philippines' weakness of a slow start, we ourselves must also start the game better. In the two matches against Laos and Indonesia, the Vietnamese team itself did not start well, and in neither match did we score a goal in the first half. In the match against Indonesia, it was not until the 77th minute that the Vietnamese team broke through the net of the team from the archipelago country.

Perhaps against Indonesia, the Vietnamese team played cautiously due to the fear of losing, stemming from the fact that the Vietnamese team has continuously lost to Indonesia this year. In the match against Laos, we did not understand the opponent well enough and did not dare to play quickly. But against the Philippines, after having had the opportunity to study this team through their first two matches at the AFF Cup, coach Kim Sang-sik may have read the opponent and the Vietnamese team will play faster in tomorrow's match.

As for the Philippines' strengths, this team is quite resilient in terms of physical strength, leading to them often being stronger than their opponents in the final stages of the match and continuously scoring goals during this period. In the match against Myanmar on December 12, the Philippines equalized 1-1 in the 72nd minute. In the match against Laos on December 15, the Philippines leveled the score 1-1 in the 77th minute. Even in the 83rd minute, Sandro Miguel Reyes of the Philippines had another situation where he put the ball into the net of the Laos team. However, that goal was disallowed due to an offside error. But whether or not that goal was scored, it must be affirmed that the Philippine players are very strong. Good physical strength helps them maintain a high speed in the final stages of the match, when the opponent is exhausted.

Regarding these points, former VFF Vice President Duong Vu Lam commented: “Filipino players have long been strong in terms of physique and physical strength. This is a factor that the Vietnamese team needs to pay attention to. They may play very simply, but that simplicity sometimes deceives opponents, before the Philippines themselves use that simplicity to punish the opponent.”

In order to avoid conceding a goal against the Philippines, the Vietnamese team needs to prepare well physically, compete well, and avoid running out of steam at the end of the match. At the same time, we need to pay attention to another strength of this team, which is high ball situations.