Khuat Van Khang urges Vietnam to stay focused
Captain Khuat Van Khang believes there’s still plenty of work to be done despite Vietnam’s 1-0 win against Australia in their opening AFC U20 Asian Cup™ Uzbekistan 2023 Group B fixture on Wednesday.
02/03/2023 12:09:00
After a nervous start, Vietnam got into the groove with Khuat playing a pivotal role in the only goal of the game as the Southeast Asian side got an early boost in their bid to advance to the quarter-finals.
“I’m satisfied with the result,” said Khuat, who plays for Vietnam club Viettel FC. “The players strictly followed the tactical approach set by the head coach. We played patiently and scored early in the game.
“Even though we led at half-time, I urged my teammates to remain focused. Australia are formidable opponents but we knew how to stop them.
“Having achieved this win, we cannot afford to slip up. We still have two matches to go and we have to handle them well if we want to reach the quarter-finals.”
Head coach Hoang Anh Tuan was full of praise for his team’s performance at the Istiqlol Stadium.
“Congratulations to all the players, we got the result that we wanted and they performed brilliantly,” said Hoang. “We benefited from our analysis of the Australian team. We studied their strengths and weaknesses and that allowed us to plan accordingly.”
Australia started brightly before Vietnam turned the tables in the sixth minute through Nguyen Quoc Viet’s strike which left head coach Trevor Morgan disappointed.
“There are three possible outcomes for a match and we didn’t get the win against Vietnam,” said Morgan when asked about Australia’s performance. “The players played well but we did not get the desired result.”
Morgan said a lapse in concentration was the main factor for his team conceding the goal.
“I don’t think Vietnam scored from a sudden burst of play. Instead, we made an error which resulted in the first goal. What is obvious is that for sure we dominated possession. Australia ventured into the box twice more than Vietnam, however, we still couldn’t score.”
Australia will be hoping to bounce back when they face Islamic Republic of Iran on Saturday, while Vietnam take on Qatar.
Source: AFC
