Shin Tae Young, head coach of the Indonesian men’s national football team, took to Instagram to personally criticize three rough tackles by Vietnam’s Doan Van Hau on Sunday, just one day prior to his team’s match against the Golden Stars in the semifinal second leg of the 2022 AFF Championship on Monday.

Three videos that Shin shared on his verified Instagram account feature Hau’s two tackles against Indonesian players in their goalless first leg on Friday and another toward an opponent in the 3-0 triumph over Malaysia on December 27.

“The efforts of the players should not be buried by the referee. Referees and players must have fair play together [sic] and I hope that incidents like this will not happen again,” Shin wrote in Korean and Indonesian in his post, which has since garnered over 44,300 comments as of 11:00 am on Monday.

Vietnamese media have questioned Shin’s head coach status following his Instagram post, declaring that any 'respectable' coach would not make personal attacks against his opponents on social media, especially ahead of such an decisive game as the Vietnam-Indonesia rematch, which will take place at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi at 7:30 pm on Monday.

Vietnamese media also claimed that Shin was unfair to mention only Hau’s faults but not those of the Indonesian players’, including Asnawi Mangkualam Bahar’s violent step on Hau’s ankle during Friday’s showdown.

According to the media, it would be more appropriate for the South Korean to make such remarks during press conferences.

It is also the ASEAN Football Federation’s job to review Hau’s foul play and consider imposing punishments if necessary, not Shin’s.

Indonesia’s head coach Shin Tae Young speaks at a press conference in Hanoi, January 8, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

Before Shin, many Vietnamese netizens had condemned Hau’s aggressive moves during the Malaysian game to the extent that the 24-year-old has blocked comments on his verified Facebook account.

Criticism broke out again after the Vietnamese left-back lunged at Indonesian forward Dendy Sulistyawan with both legs in the second half of Friday’s match.

Hau could have been shown a red card and sent off the pitch for the tackle, rather than simply being given a warning, according to football experts.

The Vietnam-Indonesia semifinal first leg ended 0-0 in Central Jakarta on Friday evening.

The two sides will challenge each other once again on Monday evening to decide who will advance to the final.

For the other semifinal pair, hosts Malaysia defeated Thailand 1-0 in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday evening.

They are set to go head to head in a rematch on Tuesday evening.

The final will be then held on a home-and-away basis on January 13 and 16.

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