'Hope to meet Vietnam again in the Southeast Asian final'

On November 6, the group stage of the 2024 Southeast Asian Futsal Championship officially ended. The Vietnamese futsal team defeated Thailand 3-2 in the final round and took the top spot in Group A, thereby facing the Australian futsal team in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, coach Miguel Rodrigo and his team faced the Indonesian futsal team, a rising force in the region. Thanh Nien Newspaper and the captain of the Thai futsal team had a quick chat before the semi-finals.

Coach Rodrigo does not focus on the championship goal

Thailand futsal team does not aim to win the championship

- Hello, it's nice to talk to you again. First of all, congratulations to the Thai futsal team for reaching the semi-finals. In this tournament, you did not bring your strongest squad. Are you worried that your chances of winning the championship will decrease?

- Of course. Our chances of winning the championship will decrease a little bit. This is almost a completely new squad of Thailand. We only have 2 players from the recent Asian Futsal Championship. Another player was injured after the match against the Malaysian futsal team. Our goal in this tournament is to reach the final with this squad. Therefore, the result in the final (if we reach) is probably not too important. Of course, we still have to fight because Thailand is the host team, we still want to win but winning the championship is not the main goal.

I am quite satisfied with the performance of the team in the match against Vietnam. We were leading for about 80, 90% of the match, enough to beat the main team of Vietnam. Maybe our chances of winning the championship will decrease with a new team, these new players, but we are still confident to beat Indonesia in the upcoming match.

- The Thai futsal team lost to Vietnam for the first time in 10 years, but in the post-match press conference, you said you were still happy because the loss would help you see your weaknesses. So up to this point, are you satisfied with your players' performances?

- We only had 8 training sessions, 2 friendly matches and very little time to prepare for this tournament. However, the players still performed well, each individual played well. However, we still made some tactical mistakes due to lack of time. But I am quite satisfied. I always encourage them to express themselves, to play with confidence. I also give the players equal opportunities so that they feel that they are useful to the team. We do not have any main players, no reserve players because as I said, the goal of this tournament is to let the players play under pressure to find the ones capable of playing at a high level.

'Thai futsal team is not sure to be stronger than Vietnam'

- You have a lot of experience with Southeast Asian futsal, having led the Vietnamese futsal team and now Thailand. Do you think that in this tournament, the Thai futsal team is still stronger than Vietnam?

- I'm not sure if Thailand is still stronger. Thailand doesn't have any players playing abroad. Of course, Vietnam came here with the main squad and has improved a level. Vietnamese futsal players have international experience and they know how to control the game in the last 6 minutes, scoring 2 goals in just 40 seconds in the last match. It's very difficult to turn the game around in such a situation.

And as I mentioned, the Thai futsal team did not have much time to practice, so the power-play strategy in the last 5 minutes was not effective, we did not attack well. Congratulations to the Vietnamese futsal team. Congratulations to my former students. Congratulations to Mr. Tu (VFF Vice President Tran Anh Tu), who has invested a lot in Vietnamese futsal. I hope you will defeat Australia to reach the final, something that Vietnamese fans have been waiting for a long time.

Will Dinh Cong Vien (left) and Vu Ngoc Anh help the Vietnamese futsal team reach the final to face Thailand? Cong Vien was the player who scored a double in the 3-2 win over the "War Elephants"

- What about the Indonesian team? I think they have improved a lot.

- For me, the Indonesian futsal team is a candidate for the championship. They have great potential, possess a quality squad with the best individuals in this tournament. They have a very good and bold Spanish coach. The strength of the Indonesian futsal team is based on the good development of the national championship: many high-class foreign coaches and players. I think the semi-final will be very tense and balanced. It could be 1-1, in the last minutes, one of the two teams will lead 2-1 and the other team will have to play power-play. But anyway, I still have a lot of confidence in my players. I am confident that we will defeat the Indonesian futsal team.

- Do you hope to meet the Vietnamese team again in the final?

- I really want to meet the Vietnamese futsal team again in the final. Giustozzi is a close friend of mine. He was also my student when I coached a club in Spain and he was a player. He is also a world champion with the Argentine national team. Very good, a top coach in the world. I really wish him success. It would be interesting to meet him again in the final. After the last match, we met at the hotel and he was very happy. We talked about what happened. Anyway, I really hope the Thai futsal team will play against the Vietnamese futsal team again.

- Thank you for the conversation.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hlv-doi-tuyen-futsal-thai-lan-mong-tai-dau-viet-nam-o-chung-ket-dong-nam-a-185241107182730194.htm