Facing the Korean team is a gift for Vietnamese players

"I don't consider this a test for my players. I think they should consider it a gift to have the opportunity to face the world's top players on the Korean side," coach Philippe Troussier said at a press conference before the friendly match between the Vietnamese and Korean teams.

This is the highest level challenge for the Vietnamese team in the first friendly matches under coach Troussier. Korea is ranked 26th in the FIFA rankings, while the position of the Vietnamese team is 95th. The difference in level between the two teams is huge.

Coach Troussier does not focus on winning or losing in this match. The French coach wants his players to be confident and perform their best against the strongest team in Asia.

"Compared to a strong opponent like Korea, the Vietnamese team has a certain gap, but I want my players to be confident on the field. When they don't have the ball, how will they perform and when they have the ball, how will they play?", said coach Troussier.

"It's clear that the Korean team is a world-class opponent. Many Korean players are top stars in Asia. We have prepared well for this match. The Korean team has many players playing in Europe and the reality is that Korea is among the four strongest teams in Asia. Therefore, in this match, I do not put too much emphasis on the result.

The Vietnamese team is in the process of building a squad to prepare for a more distant goal in the future. In tomorrow's match, the Vietnamese team will have to defend for about 60%-70% of the time. The Korean team is at a higher level than the Vietnamese players. The Vietnamese team must calmly overcome the pressure caused by the opponent."

Vietnam team 0-2 Uzbekistan

The match against South Korea is the last friendly match of the Vietnamese team before entering the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Before that, coach Troussier and his team faced Hong Kong (China), Syria, Palestine, China and Uzbekistan with a record of 3 wins and 2 losses.

From the performance and evaluation of the tests in the friendly matches, Coach Troussier will choose the strongest lineup for the Vietnamese team when entering the official tournament.

" I bring a lot of new players to this international series. We need to try step by step, match by match. The Vietnamese team learns a lot from failures. Through those failures, we can choose the best players to create the strongest squad," said coach Troussier.

Phuong Mai

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