Doan Van Hau reminded Vietnamese teammates to avoid overestimating naturalized Indonesian players

Defender Doan Van Hau believes that the level of naturalized Indonesian players is not higher than that of Southeast Asian players, so Vietnam and Indonesia are on equal footing in the 2026 World Cup qualifying clash on Thursday.

When watching live football, the Indonesian team is currently at the bottom of Group F in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup with 1 point. They will face Vietnam in two consecutive matches, the first leg at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in central Jakarta on March 21 and the second leg at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on March 26.

Coach Shin Tae-young is aiming for two wins to take his team closer to the third qualifying round.

To achieve that goal, Indonesia has summoned a series of naturalized players currently playing in Europe, mainly from the Netherlands. Although Thom Haye and Ragnar Oratmangoen were not registered in time for the two matches, Indonesia still has 9 players born and raised abroad, including defenders Shayne Pattynama, Jordi Amat, Sandy Walsh, Justin Hubner, Jay Idzes , Nathan Tjoe Aon, midfielder Marc Klok, Ivar Jenner and striker Rafael Struick.

On the contrary, the wave of injuries has caused Vietnam to lose many key players such as goalkeeper Dang Van Lam, midfielder Nguyen Tuan Anh, and defenders Do Duy Manh and Doan Van Hau.

For many years, Vietnam has been a bright candidate, but this is a rare time the situation has changed for Indonesia, after they had their first victory in 8 years over Vietnam in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup earlier. this year.

However, defender Doan Van Hau believes that Vietnam has no reason to fear Indonesia, especially their squad of naturalized players. This defender believes that repeated stories in the media about Indonesian naturalized players partly affect the team spirit. Vietnam needs to overcome this psychological obstacle by not overestimating their opponents, otherwise the players will no longer be themselves on the field.

"If those players have outstanding skills or talent, they will try to join the Dutch national team or other European countries with developed football backgrounds, instead of naturalizing in Indonesia," Van Hau speak.

"Those naturalized players are only at the Southeast Asian level, we can completely confront them. We just need to step on the field and fight with our best."

Van Hau is certainly not popular with many Indonesian fans, especially after the 2019 SEA Games final, where he forced a red card for Evan Dimas and scored a double to help Vietnam win the gold medal. At the national team level, Vietnam was undefeated against Indonesia when Van Hau played, winning 3 and drawing 2/5 matches.

However, Vietnam had to miss Van Hau at the 2023 Asian Cup due to injury. In the end, they lost 0-1 to Indonesia in the group stage and were eliminated early. The left-back will also not be with the team in Indonesia on Thursday as he has recently undergone surgery to treat a problem with his Achilles tendon.

According to Van Hau, Vietnam's biggest worry in the first leg is the pressure from the crowd at Bung Karno Stadium. "The stadium with nearly 80,000 seats will be filled with the cheers of fans, creating an oppressive atmosphere throughout the match."

"I experienced that when playing with the national team in the first leg of the AFF Cup 2022 semi-finals. If they are not mentally strong, the away team will be overwhelmed from the first minutes, making it difficult to show their best performance. "

"Senior players need to help young players get through moments like this. In the previous match, I stood my ground because I convinced myself that those cheers were for me. not against me," Van Hau said.

Today's Vietnamese football schedule left-back recommends that the coaching staff and players have a special communication strategy to understand each other. This will help the whole team coordinate better in crowded and noisy stadiums, where players standing several meters apart cannot hear each other.

Another issue that worries Van Hau is the referee. He believes that with more than 80,000 fans present on the field, any referee will be pressured to favor the home team to some extent. The 25-year-old defender also reminded his teammates to stay calm when facing the opponent's provocative actions or diving.

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