Coach Troussier: "The Vietnamese team must finish off the Philippines sooner"

Van Toan and Dinh Bac scored, Vietnam defeated the Philippines

Appearing at the press conference after the match at Rizal Memorial Stadium on the evening of November 16, coach Philippe Troussier said: "I appreciate today's victory, a match that was not easy for the whole team. Considering the number of opportunities throughout the match, the Vietnamese team could have found the second goal and finished off the opponent sooner.

But we couldn't do that, we had to endure a lot of pressure, made defensive mistakes and let the Philippines score. We were somewhat lucky, because if the Philippines had equalized, we don't know what the final score would have been. When Dinh Bac scored, the pressure was relieved."

The Vietnamese team went through many stormy times (Photo: Thu Luong).

"Anyway, I am satisfied with the players' determination, discipline on the pitch and adherence to tactics. Our pre-match strategy was to control the ball, exploit the spaces and make reasonable decisions. This is an important victory after a long preparation process.

Experiencing pressure like today's match shows the meaning of training hard every day. On November 21 at My Dinh Stadium, we have an even more important match against Iraq. This victory strengthens the team's spirit before returning home," Coach Troussier was satisfied with his players' performance.

In addition, the French strategist said that although the Vietnamese team had to play on the artificial turf of Rizal Memorial Stadium, the players still controlled the ball well. According to ScoreBar statistics, the Vietnamese team held the ball nearly 60% of the time.

Striker Van Toan shared: "In the first match against the Philippines, playing on artificial turf was very difficult. The whole team played well, I am proud of the goal scored.

Over the past 8 months, the Vietnamese team has been playing with a new philosophy, a new coach, and trying to follow that philosophy. This is not a great achievement, but it is the first result in 8 months. In the upcoming match, we will try to score points against Iraq."

Van Toan was satisfied with his goal against the Philippines (Photo: Thu Luong).

The Vietnamese team opened Group F of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia with a trip to the Philippines' Rizal Memorial Stadium on the evening of November 16. This is a match that coach Philippe Troussier's team must win to keep their hopes of qualifying alive.

The Vietnamese team started well and got the opening goal from Van Toan. In the following period, the Philippines' physical style of play caused many difficulties for the red team, Van Lam's goal faced many storms.

On a day when the Philippines strikers were unlucky, the Vietnamese team delivered the "killing blow" to their opponents at the end of the match. In the last minute of extra time, substitute Dinh Bac scored an accurate shot into the far corner, sealing a 2-0 victory for the Vietnamese team.

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Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-troussier-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-phai-ket-lieu-philippines-som-hon-20231116195738113.htm