Coach Park: 'Argentina still lost the opening match of the World Cup'
* Laos - Vietnam: 19:30 Wednesday, December 21, on MetaSports.
"My players are ready to attend the 2022 AFF Cup. But the first match is never easy. Even Argentina has difficulties, losing 1-2 to Saudi Arabia in the first match on the way to winning the World Cup 2022. But my task is to support the players to have the best fighting spirit," the Vietnam coach opened at a press conference in Vientiane on the morning of December 20.
According to Coach Park, the preparation of the team is not unusual, because during the 5 years under him, the gameplay and forces have been shaped, there is no big change. However, the fact that Phan Van Duc and Bui Tien Dung contracted Covid-19 made the team more careful in the medical stage.
The 65-year-old leader was happy when Phan Van Duc was negative for Covid-19 to fly to Laos two days before the match. "This is good news. Van Duc has a good attacking ability and has proven it over the years. The team needs a player like him to strengthen the attack. And I also hope Van Duc will have it. a good tournament this time," he said.
Bui Tien Dung has not recovered from Covid-19, has to stay in Hanoi, but Coach Park insists that Viettel's central defender will be on the list of 23 official players for the 2022 AFF Cup. "We are closely monitoring and testing. Daily fast and PCR every three days for Dung.This morning, two of his test samples taken by two different units were negative.Hopefully, when the team returns to Hanoi, Dung can practice with the whole team. ", he revealed.
According to the regulations of the AFF Cup organizers, even though 23 players are locked in, teams can still replace up to 10 people in case of Covid-19 cases. Coach Park will let the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) notify if there is this change, and will close the list of participants for each match at least six hours before the ball rolls.
Coach Park then revealed that he had carefully studied the people and play of the opponent tomorrow. He said: "Laos has just appointed a German coach, has played four matches - two in September and two in December. I have only watched their last two matches. Most of these Lao players are at the age of U23, prepare for next year's SEA Games. I see they are very strong mentally, and the coach seems to want Laos to strengthen the ability to control the ball."
