Park Hang-seo highly appreciates Lao players’ fighting spirit
VOV.VN - Lao football players have a strong fighting spirit and have made significant progress over recent years, head coach Park Hang-seo said at a press conference held on December 20.
Coach Park also noted that he had watched two recent matches involving Laos and predicted that their German coach has helped the team to improve their control of the ball.
He noted that the team had made plenty of progress over recent years. For example, Laos lost to Vietnam 9-0 in 2007, however, they only lost by a score of 4-0 when they played Vietnam in 2012.
Furthermore, the Vietnam head coach also admitted that his team had to struggled to win over Laos in 2021, recording a 2-0 victory.
The coach shared that the Laotian team currently relies heavily on striker Billy Ketkeophomphone who has experience playing for many football clubs in France such as Strasbourg, Angers, and Auxerre.
According to coach Park, the Vietnamese national team is ready for the match against Laos at 19:30 p.m. on December 21. He revealed that Phan Van Duc, who was infected with COVID-19, has recovered and has flown to Laos to meet up with the Vietnamese team.
Among the 25 players called up by coach Park, Quang Hai, who has recently returned to Vietnam to join the national team, is expected to provide an extra option in terms of breaking through defensive teams like Laos.
Familiar faces in the line-up include Bui Tien Dung, Bui Hoang Viet Anh, Que Ngoc Hai, Nguyen Quang Hai, and Phan Van Duc.
Elsewhere, strikers Pham Tuan Hai and Nguyen Van Quyet are expected to put in good performances during the course of the competition.
This comes after Vietnam beat Laos 2-0 in the opening game of the 2020 AFF Cup which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moving forward, the AFF Cup 2022 is scheduled to take place from December 23 to January 16, 2023.
Vietnam have been drawn in Group B and they will play two away matches against Laos and Singapore on December 21 and December 30, respectively. They will then play at home against Malaysia on December 27 and Myanmar on January 3, 2023.
The 2022 AFF Cup will be coach Park’s final tournament in his role as head coach. The Vietnam Football Federation have already announced that the Korean manager will no longer coach the national team after the AFF Cup, with his contract set to expire in January, 2023.