Given that players need to do everything to win, coach Steve Darby affirmed that Doan Van Hau deserves to be disqualified against Malaysia in the AFF Cup 2022.
Doan Van Hau used his hand to prevent Azam Azmi from entering the Vietnamese penalty area, in the match in the third round of Group B AFF Cup 2022. Photo: Hieu Luong
– Doan Van Hau’s performance in the match between Vietnam and Malaysia 3-0 on December 27 received mixed opinions. what is your point?
– I have my own opinion with experience as a player and coach, but I also contacted a FIFA referee about the controversial situations of Doan Van Hau. Do Vietnamese fans want to win, or kick well but lose? I think most Vietnamese want to win and don’t care how they win. My experience with professional football is that you have to do everything you can to win, and everything is up to the referee. Sometimes a team will be forgiven by the referee, but sometimes unfairly punished.
The prime example is Diego Maradona with his handball against England in the 1986 World Cup. All Brits are furious, but how would they react if their striker Gary Lineker did the same? I guarantee they won’t care. Similarly, Thierry Henry used to play with his hand to help his teammates score a goal to knock Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. The French did not care, only the Irish responded.
– Minute 16, in an attempt to shade goalkeeper Dang Van Lam, Van Hau elbowed Malaysian player Azam Azmi. How do you rate this ball?
– I think Vietnam should be awarded a penalty in this situation, because Van Hau made a stupid mistake. Saying is stupid because Van Hau does not need to do that, when the goalkeeper will catch the ball. The crux of the situation was that Van Hau looked at the Malaysian player before nudging the opponent. The referee clearly made a mistake by not blowing the penalty, even the assistant referee standing on the side was at fault because he was standing nearby.
The FIFA referee I contacted also said that the situation was a penalty for Malaysia if according to the law: “The act of nudging an opponent to occupy space is when the player does not use his arm or elbow. The player will commit a foul in this case if any of the three signs include carelessness, recklessness or excessive force.
I think Van Hau violated all three of the above signs.
– In the third minute of the first half, Van Hau raised his arm again to hit center-back Sharul Nazeem in an attempt to cover the ball. How do you rate this ball?
– In this situation, we have the advantage with the slow-motion TV angle, but the referees don’t. I think at first Van Hau made a mistake when he extended his hand to use tricks to prevent the opponent from approaching the ball. Then, the Malaysian player fouled from behind Van Hau. But the TV angle shows the situation worse. The referee had difficulty because the angle of view was not good and the situation happened quickly.
The referee can give a yellow card to both, or no player at all. In this situation, he did not penalize any player. In my opinion, Van Hau used tricks to bypass the referee. Again the assistant referee doesn’t do a good job of having a better view.
Doan Van Hau used his arm to shield center-back Sharul Nazeem at the end of the first half of Vietnam’s 3-0 victory over Malaysia at My Dinh Stadium, Hanoi, in Group B of the AFF Cup 2022 on the evening of December 27. Photo: Ngoc Thanh
– What about Vietnam’s penalty in the 59th minute?
– I think Van Hau made a mistake first and pushed Azam Azmi to the side of the billboard. I looked back at the slow-motion situation many times, but did not see the Malaysian defender as if he was deliberately stepping on Van Hau, but maybe just by accident. The FIFA referee told me that the key in the situation was that the ball was still alive. Had the ball gone out of the field then, Malaysia would not have been awarded a penalty. But the ball is still in the field, so a penalty is possible. The referee decided so and gave Azam Azmi a red card.
Personally, I don’t think Malaysia deserves a penalty because Van Hau made the mistake first, and Azam Azmi didn’t intentionally step on the opponent. If I were the Malaysian coach, I would be very upset. The referee made two mistakes.
– As a coach, what do you say to players who often play tricks or make careless mistakes?
– In professional football, not amateur or movement, there is a maxim. It is “players should foul at the right time and in the right place”. Typical examples are Liverpool midfielder Fabinho or Man City’s Rodri, when they often foul from midfield to prevent opponents from attacking. As a coach, I always tell players not to make stupid mistakes, like Van Hau’s situation in the 16th minute, which he got lucky.
I have never advised a player to use elbow tricks or dangerous balls against opponents. But sometimes this happens in the tense nature of the match. But fouling unnecessarily is foolish, leaving him sent off and dangerously penalized for the home team.
The problem lies in whether the referee made the right decision or not. If the match had VAR, Vietnam would have been awarded a penalty in the 16th minute, and not in the 59th minute.
– What do you think about this match?
– The match went great, but was badly affected by the surface of My Dinh. Vietnam should improve the pitch, as the players and spectators deserve a better pitch. Malaysian media and social media are both angry with this match. I saw Malaysian female fans crying after the game. But nothing changes the game anymore. The Vietnamese team should smile and accept luck. But on another day, you may be out of luck.
Van Hau: ‘Fighting hard for collective achievements’
Xuan Binh
