Head coach Philippe Troussier: “U23 Vietnam is ready to enter the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 Qualifier”
Speaking at the press conference before the Group C matches within the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 Qualifiers, coach Philippe Troussier expressed confidence in the preparation of the U23 Vietnam. He and his players are ready for the race to qualify to the final round of this tournament.
05/09/2023 17:45:10
In response to the opinion that U23 Vietnam is the strongest team in Group C, coach Philippe Troussier said: “As the home team, I welcome all three remaining teams to come here to compete. I wish them a good experience in Vietnam. In theory, the home team U23 Vietnam is the strongest. But that’s just in theory, in reality on the field we have to put in a lot of effort. The whole team is ready for the match tomorrow.”
Talking about preparations for the 2024 U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, coach Philippe Troussier said he and his assistants have had a long preparation for the home tournament: “We started preparing from March 1 , since then we have worked with about 70 players and gone through competitions even at the team level. Our preparation process took 6 months, not 1 week.”
“Moreover, I and the group of U23 players worked 5 years ago when they were 17, 18 years old. In front of us is a tough but interesting challenge, looking forward to Asiad 19, and especially the 2024 AFC U23 Asian Cup when this tournament has a place to attend the Olympic Paris 2024”, added the French strategist.
Besides, coach Philippe Troussier also talked about how Vietnamese football needs to take advantage of young playgrounds for players to develop more for the future: “Practice is practice. Philosophy is philosophy. The result is the player’s on-field performance. I believe that if playing a lot, the players will gain experience. I consider adjusting through each match as main job.”
“Every match will be different, the players will be different depending on the opponent. We currently have the number 1 position in Southeast Asia. I came here to work to help players overcome the threshold at the regional and world level,” he emphasized.
Talking about the decision not to stay in Viet Tri city to facilitate playing in Phu Tho, coach Philippe Troussier affirmed that this is consistent with the professional football model: “People may think that Hanoi is far away from Viet Tri, but if you take the bus, it only takes about 1 hour. I currently lead 2 teams at the same time. I decided to place the team’s headquarters at VFF to ensure privacy and maintain a familiar living space. This is the same thing as in their club.”
“My previous experience saw that when there was a match, the players moved to the venue and then returned to headquarters. I believe that if we create a playing environment like the club, it will motivate the players to compete and limit the constraints of focusing on the tournament as usual,” the 68-year-old coach continued.
According to the schedule, at 7 pm tomorrow (September 6) at Viet Tri Stadium in Phu Tho province, U23 Vietnam will open the campaign with the match against U23 Guam.
Head coach Dominic Gadia(U23 Guam)
“This is our first time participating in this competition. I don’t focus on the results, I aim to build the foundation for the future. I researched as much as I could, up to the matches that we had about U23 Vietnam. They have been very successful in recent times. Therefore, I respect U23 Vietnam. As for our team, there are players from the USA, this is an opportunity for them to show their ability.”
Head coach Nazri Nasir (U23 Singapore):
“I have been leading the team after the last SEA Games. We respect all teams. We did not attend the U23 AFF Championship 2023 because the tournament was not included in FIFA Days. However, when heading to the 2024 Asian U23 qualifier, because the team wanted to have the best squad, the national league is decided to pause.
Most of my players have a variety of positions. They can flexibly play with a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 formation depending on the opponent. We will consider reality to have the best calculation.”
Head coach Omar Naser (U23 Yemen):
“This group is very interesting. U23 Vietnam has just won at the Southeast Asian tournament. We must be careful. U23 Yemen is also rebuilding the team with many young players. Opportunities are divided equally between teams. The team with the best performance will win tickets to Qatar.
