by Tien Thanh
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Exotic flavour: English-born Filipino Philip James Younghusband (right) is one several ‘imported' players competing in the AFF Suzuki Cup's semi-final round. The Philippines will meet co-host Indonesia in the game's first leg on December 16 in Jakarta. — VNA/VNS Photo Quoc Khanh |
HCM CITY — The semi-finals of the region's biggest football championship will be especially significant this year, as foreign-born players are competing on several teams.
After the eight-day competition in the group stage, defending champions Viet Nam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have qualified for the AFF Cup semi-finals.
This is only the second time since the tournament began in 1996 when the elite group of Thailand, Singapore, Viet Nam, Indonesia and Malaysia did not dominate the semi-finals.
With Viet Nam and Malaysia both suffering a defeat in the group stage, they are considered to be less consistent than Indonesia and the Philippines, who remain unbeaten.
Clash of natives
The first semi-final between Viet Nam and Malaysia is not only a match to decide which team will advance to the final, but also a testament to the different policies that Viet Nam Football Federation and the Football Association of Malaysia are applying to their domestic football leagues.
Viet Nam's V-League is considered the best football league in Southeast Asia by Indonesia's Austrian head coach Alfred Riedl and Laos' English head coach David Booth.
V-League allows its clubs to recruit foreign players. But, unlike Viet Nam and most countries in the region, Malaysia does not allow clubs in their Super League to use foreign players because they want to use and develop only local players for their Olympic and national teams.
Although the two countries are developing their domestic football leagues in different ways, both Viet Nam and Malaysia are using only native-born players.
Viet Nam's team had a few foreign-born players last year, but does not have any this year.
Although the Malaysian Olympic team edged Viet Nam in the final at the SEA Games' football competition last year in Laos, Viet Nam holds the advantage over Malaysia in the encounter between the two senior national teams.
"Viet Nam has a great chance to defend the title because their play is great and the defending champions also have good players led by an experienced tactician, Henrique Calisto," a football commentator on ESPN said.
"Although Malaysia has been weakened because of a few injured players, what they did in the SEA Games in Laos last year and in the group stage of AFF Suzuki Cup this year showed they have great character to come back," he said.
Foreign influx
Since the Tiger Cup 2004, foreign-born players have been part of the region's biggest football competition, with Singapore being the first country to use foreign-born players.
AFF Suzuki Cup this year saw two more countries opting to call up foreign-born players: the Philippines, which has eight foreign-born players, and Indonesia, which has two.
The second semi-final between Indonesia and the Philippines promises to be a very exciting match as it becomes a showdown between a varied attacking style and a highly-organised defensive style of play.
Indonesia's attacking capacity comes from targetmen Uruguayan-born Christian Gonzales and Dutch-born Irfan Bachdim up front.
Blistering wingers Oktovianus Maniani and Firman Utina on two wings will face the Philippines' solid and organised defence with lanky but reliable keeper Neil Etheridge, who grew up in England, at the goal.
"They (Philippines) defend very well and are organised, with goalkeeper Neil Etheridge being reliable at the goal. That is why they have conceded only one goal so far," the ESPN commentator said.
He predicted that Viet Nam and Indonesia would play in the final. — VNS
