Playing the high and mighty, Thailand will be thrashed by Vietnam

The Thai Football Federation (FAT) has decided to postpone Thai League 2020 to September. This greatly affects the national team, especially the AFF Cup campaign at the end of the year. Because this tournament is not part of the FIFA Day, the clubs have the right to not release its players.

This makes it difficult for Thailand to compete with the strongest squad, and the plan to send the U23 team to attend is a somewhat reasonable decision. However, if that happens, they have given up on their ambition to regain the No. 1 position in Southeast Asia from Vietnam.

Unlike Thailand, the Vietnam team considers the conquest of the AFF Cup 2020 goal as one of the important tasks. Certainly Park Hang-seo and Vietnam NT will attend the tournament with the strongest team and the highest determination.

Under Park’s reign, Vietnamese football has improved incessantly and is considered better than Thailand. They possess an unbeaten record when facing rivals in Southeast Asia.

Even if Thailand brings their strongest squad, it is difficult to neutralize the strength of the Vietnamese team. Thailand’s U23 team also received a 0-4 defeat to U23 Vietnam in the U23 Asian qualifier 2020.

The squad of Thailand U23 team includes many players in the national team shirt, such as Supachai, Suphanat, Supachok, Jaroensak ... These names may also not attend the AFF Cup 2020 and the strength of Thailand U23 will be significantly weakened. It can be said that the gap between the young Thai players and the Vietnamese seniors are huge. Maybe the reason they send U23 team to attend the AFF Cup is to keep the procedure.

The withdrawal makes the road to conquer the championship of Vietnam become wider. Their only major rival is the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. However, all 3 teams are underestimated compared to Vietnam.

Philippines is still struggling to find a right direction for home football. Indonesia has not been able to get stable under coach Shin Tae-yong. Vietnam's biggest opponent will be Malaysia, but coach Tan Cheng Hoe has never beat Park Hang-seo in the confrontations from the AFF Cup 2018 to the World Cup qualifier of 2022.

Although the opportunity for the championship is brighter, Vietnam certainly does not want Thailand to attend the tournament with the U23 squad. Thailand has the most championships, which is considered to be the best team in the region. They get a lot of attention and many followers and are the attraction for the tournament.

Therefore, the AFF Cup 2020 will lose much value if Thailand does not attend the tournament with the strongest squad. This is the largest tournament for national teams in Southeast Asia, has a long history and is the pride of the teams. The appearance of U23 team will create a bad precedent when the teams no longer focus on the achievements in the AFF Cup.