How was Vietnam's defense playing unsteadily against Cambodia?

Vietnam's national team went through a game that was far from straightforward against Cambodia, even with a 3-1 victory, particularly in terms of defense.

Although they controlled the game and applied a lot of pressure, the red-shirted defense repeatedly showed moments of losing focus. Notably, there were at least three situations where Vietnam could have conceded a goal, before those mistakes were actually punished by Cambodia in the 71st minute.

The first dangerous moment came in the 14th minute. Thanh Chung received the ball just outside the box but handled it unsafely, allowing Samuel Bong to steal the ball and break through to face Le Giang. Fortunately for Vietnam, the Cambodian striker shot the ball over the crossbar. This was clearly a situation where Vietnam's defense put themselves in an alarm state due to a single individual error.

Shortly after, Cambodia continued to exploit the space behind the defensive line. In the 34th minute, Vietnam's center-backs were beaten by the opponent, forcing Le Giang to rush out quickly to intervene. If the Vietnamese goalkeeper hadn't actively charged out, Cambodia could have had another very clear scoring opportunity.

In the second half, the problem remained unresolved. A Cambodian counterattack brought Iago Bento into a position to face Le Giang. Xuan Manh had to timely drop back to clear the ball from the opposing striker's feet. This was yet another warning about Vietnam's ability to defend against counterattacks.

But in the 71st minute, that warning turned into a goal. During a fast Cambodia buildup, Xuan Manh, despite starting ahead, was overtaken by Iago Bento, who then broke through and fired a shot to beat Le Giang, equalizing 1-1.

The point worth noting is that the goal conceded did not come from a situation where Cambodia dominated or executed overly complex combinations, but originated from Vietnam's defense allowing the opponent to exploit space and losing in the final sprint duel.

Thus, before conceding the goal, Vietnam had faced at least three real threats of being scored on. Thanh Chung's loss of possession, the space behind the center-back pair, and the counterattack that brought Bento one-on-one with Le Giang all showed that the red-shirted defense had not effectively controlled transitional situations.

This is a more worrying issue than the scoreline. Cambodia is not a team that applies constant pressure, but whenever Vietnam relaxed or lost the ball, they found a way to quickly move the ball toward the goal. If facing a stronger opponent in the semifinals, such unsteady moments could carry a heavy price.

This is a troubling signal because in the semifinals, Vietnam will have to face teams with much better attacking quality and transitional ability. If these "gaps" are not quickly sealed, the defense could become the biggest weakness of the defending champions in their journey to retain the ASEAN Cup title.