Coach Bandovic 'reads' extremely strong opponents, wants Hanoi Club to cause shock

After a 2-4 defeat to Pohang Steelers in the opening match of the 2023-2024 AFC Champions League, Hanoi FC will look for their first points in the second match taking place at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, October 4, where the Vietnamese representative will be a guest at Urawa Red Diamonds' Saitama Stadium.

Urawa FC is the current champion of the AFC Champions League, after defeating a series of strong opponents such as Al Hilal (UAE), Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (Korea). Although highly appreciating the opponent, coach Bozidar Bandovic hopes that Hanoi FC will cause a shock.

"This is the second match of Hanoi FC against a very strong opponent. After the first match, we have made connections between domestic and foreign players. We are ready to give everything for tomorrow's match. Although this is a difficult match, we always hope to achieve good results.

Coach Bozidar Bandovic of Hanoi Club

Urawa Red Diamonds is a team with a united team, possessing a squad of quality players and especially excellent in attack. Of course, I also pay attention to foreign players, because they can make a difference. The other team is also very strong in tactics and has a very solid midfield. In addition, Urawa Club has won the Asian championship 3 times. Facing such a strong team brings good things and experience to the players," said Mr. Bandovic.

The Montenegrin strategist was also satisfied with his students' ability to adapt to the new tactics, which he built to serve the AFC Champions League.

"I think that through the first match, the players have improved quite a lot. They are also ready for the high-intensity exercises that I intend to implement. I have also worked with the team for a relatively long time. We can also see that the V-League has a rather slow pace compared to the J-League. Therefore, we and the players have tried to adapt and integrate with the high intensity of training and competition.

Currently, I am satisfied with the players' efforts in training and adaptation. But we also understand that 2 weeks is not enough for the players to adapt smoothly to each other. I accept this, considering it a challenge for the coaching staff as well as the whole team," Coach Bandovic confidently shared.

Center back Do Duy Manh also highly appreciated Urawa Club, both in terms of domestic and foreign player quality as well as the cohesion of the Japanese team.

Center back Do Duy Manh

"For me personally, the Urawa Reds Diamonds players are all very high-level, and especially they have very high-quality foreign players. Previously at the 2019 Asian Cup, the Vietnamese team faced Japan. I once faced the current captain of Urawa Reds Diamonds, Hiroki Sakai. He is a very classy right-back. Therefore, we will have to concentrate highly in tomorrow's match.

The upcoming match will be very difficult for Hanoi FC. However, we have prepared carefully. Hanoi FC will follow the tactics set out by the coaching staff, aiming for the best match and achieving the best result tomorrow," Duy Manh affirmed.

The new point of Hanoi FC this season is the appearance of many foreign players. The capital team registered 6 foreign players, notably Damien Le Tallec (former Borussia Dortmund player) and Joel Tagueu (former Cameroon player). According to Duy Manh, the foreign players are still integrating.

"I, like other domestic players, always welcome foreign players to play football with the team. When working with foreign coaches, we also improve significantly in terms of expertise. We always help, so that foreign players can adapt as quickly as possible to the Vietnamese football environment as well as Hanoi Club.

With a prestigious arena like the AFC Champions League, I, as well as the foreign players, have to put in 200% of our effort and ability. Hanoi Club has understood the coach's philosophy to gradually adapt and perform best on the field," Duy Manh concluded.

Hanoi FC is at the bottom of the table after the first round with 0 points and a goal difference of -2, while Urawa FC is also disappointing after being held to a 1-1 draw by Wuhan Three Towns (China), temporarily ranking second in the table.

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