Laos national team head coach wants to surprise Vietnam national team

Arriving in Vietnam at midnight, Lao head coach Ha Hyeok Jun was quite relaxed despite Laos' poor head-to-head record against Vietnam. Most recently in the group stage of the 2024 ASEAN Cup, Laos lost 1-4 to Vietnam at home.

Coach Ha Hyeok Jun once played with the Laos national team against the Vietnamese national team at the ASEAN Cup 2024 (Photo: Hoai Thuong)

To prepare for the first match of the 2027 Asian Cup when visiting Vietnam, Laos had a friendly match with Sri Lanka. The result of coach Ha Hyeok Jun and his team was not really good when they lost 0-2 to the team ranked 200th in the FIFA rankings.

Despite the bad result, coach Ha Hyeok Jun is still quite confident: "In the match against Sri Lanka, we experimented with the lineup and personnel. The 1-2 defeat against the team ranked 200th in the world is not a shock, we consider it as preparation for the match against Vietnam."

“We are still confident as we are in the training cycle towards the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, starting with the match against the Vietnam national team. Let’s wait and see what surprises we can bring to Vietnam, from personnel management to tactics.”

Coach Ha Hyeok Jun assessed that the competition conditions in Binh Duong are not much different from those in Vientiane. This helps the Lao team not to be at a disadvantage in getting used to the situation when there is not much time to prepare for the match.

Evaluating the Vietnam National Team, Coach Ha Hyeok Jun said that Coach Kim Sang Sik and his team did not have many changes compared to the ASEAN Cup 2024.