ASEAN Cup final score prediction: Vietnam to finish off Thailand in the first half
Báo Tuổi Trẻ•05/01/2025
The pressure to play offensively could cause Thailand to concede an early goal in the second leg of the 2024 ASEAN Cup final, taking place at 8:00 p.m. on January 5 (Vietnam time).
Vietnam (left) has the advantage in score - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH
The first leg ended with a 2-1 victory for Vietnam. Defender Chalermsak's equalizer in the 83rd minute helped Thailand revive their hope of a comeback. There is an interesting statistic of European football, conducted by Professor David Forrest of Liverpool University (UK), showing that a 2-1 home win in the first leg will lead to the most balanced situation. However, Professor Forrest also admitted that this statistic is not entirely accurate, as stronger teams often play the second leg at home. A typical example is the 2-1 victory of the Philippines in the first leg of the ASEAN Cup semi-final this year. Thailand won 3-1 in the second leg when playing at home, but they also had to go through 120 minutes of hard work. The 2-1 score in the first leg at home therefore does not bring much advantage to the Vietnamese team. But on the other hand, the Thai team is currently not rated higher. When having to deal with the pressure in the semi-finals, Thailand also failed to show their superiority against the Philippines. And their attack line showed a lack of sharpness in the final arrangements. Since the ASEAN Cup switched to a two-legged format in the final, Thailand has reached the final match 7 times. Their record in the second leg of the final is 3 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Of which, Thailand won 4 times overall. In 2016, Thailand lost the first leg of the final with the same score of 1-2 against Indonesia, and won 2-0 in the second leg at home. However, Thailand completely outperformed Indonesia at that time. At this time, their defense is seriously threatened when they have not solved the problem named Nguyen Xuan Son. Bookmakers give Thailand a handicap of 1/4 (0.25) for the whole match and a draw in the first half. The over/under ratio for the whole match is 2.25 and the first half is 1.
This is a fairly favorable over rate when Thailand is forced to play offensively, and may have to pay early because of the laxity of the defense .Expert's choice: Thailand handicap 0.25 goals for the whole match: choose Vietnam Equal first half: choose Vietnam Over/under 2.25 goals for the whole match: choose over Over/under 1 goal for the first half: choose over Prediction: Vietnam wins 2-1 (wins 4-2 overall).
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