Coach Troussier is satisfied despite continuing to lose heavily in the Doha Cup

This is Vietnam's second consecutive defeat in this tournament. In the opening match, the team lost 0-3 to Iraq. "Despite the big loss, we still maintained the structure of the squad, played with determination and directed the ball to attack," coach Troussier said after the match on the evening of March 25. "Real results are not everything, but the attitude of competition and the consensus in the team."

The French military leader also affirmed that this is a valuable lesson to continue working and improve the team. According to him, Vietnam played well in the first half, the players confidently played the ball and responded well to the tactics, but their physical decline led to four goals in the second half. "It's not easy for the team to maintain pressure throughout the game," said the 68-year-old coach. "I don't think we deserved four goals."

Besides, Troussier admitted that Vietnam is not at the same level as the UAE. "The UAE football is in the top 5 or 6 in Asia and is clearly a big challenge for Vietnam," he assessed. "But we are trying to close the gap and today's game showed that it can be done."

Despite being a friendly tournament, two consecutive defeats still made coach Troussier face pressure from public opinion. However, he hopes to receive the trust because everything is still in the process of preparing for the SEA Games and bigger goals in the future.

Defender Phan Tuan Tai also said that the team is not too sad with the recent results because there is still time to practice towards the SEA Games and the 2026 World Cup. Besides, against the UAE, the team has dared to play and perform somewhat. tactics proposed by the coach. "We did our best, but the results were not satisfactory, so we need to try harder," he shared.

Vietnam ranked last because they did not get any points and the goal difference was -7. It is likely that the team will meet Kyrgyzstan - ranked ninth and have not won any points and have a difference of -3 - on the evening of March 28.