Vietnam aiming to make fans proud
Vietnam will be going all out to beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to take bronze medal in the men’s football at the Asian Games on today, according to head coach Park Hang-seo.
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The third-place play-off match will take place at 3pm (Hanoi time) at Pakan Sari Stadium.
Vietnam lost 3-1 to the Republic of Korea (RoK) in the semi-finals, while UAE were defeated 1-0 by Japan.
“My players were upset about losing to the RoK, but I reminded them that we still have a match ahead. We need to focus on the game to take home bronze to reward the fans for their love and support for the team,” said Park.
The South Korean coach is hoping to finish off the UAE in normal time without going to yet another penalty shootout.
According to ASIAD rules, if the score is tied at the end of normal time, the game goes straight to a penalty shootout.
“I don’t really want my players to have to take penalties. As head coach, sometimes I am tired. I want to finish the match in 90 minutes,” said Park.
“I watched the UAE in the game they lost to Japan. My assistants have also researched our rivals. Every team have their strong points. The UAE have a diversified style and are quick on the break,” said Park.
“The whole team were disappointed by the loss in the semi-final, but now we are focusing on the bronze medal match,” said midfielder Pham Duc Huy.
According to Huy, the biggest difficulty for him and his teammates was recovery time.
“We’ve played a lot of matches in a short space of time. After the quarter-final with Syria, we returned to our hotel very late as some players had to do doping tests. We didn’t have enough time to recover,” said Huy.
“The fans are a great source of support for us. We will try our best to beat the UAE to win bronze for the fans,” Huy added.
On August 31, the team worked up a sweat during a training session at the Sekolah Pelita Harapan International School in Indonesia.
The squad were mostly in good shape. Tran Dinh Trong was the only name on the injury list, as he has not yet recovered completely, while Doan Van Hau is available to play after being absent for the semi-final due to suspension.
Meanwhile, UAE coach Maciej Skorza said his team would do everything to win the bronze medal.
Skorza said the most important thing for the UAE now was to recover their strength.
Vietnam enjoyed a smooth passage to the semi-finals by topping Group E with a perfect record of three wins.
They then saw off Bahrain in the round of 16 and Syria in the quarter-finals.
