Coach Miura doesn't care if Cong Phuong starts or comes on in the second half.

The coach affirmed that he does not place much importance on whether Cong Phuong is in the starting lineup or comes off the bench.

After an impressive performance in a friendly match against Hanoi T&T Club and scoring the winning goal in a 3-1 victory for the Vietnam Olympic Team, Cong Phuong was surprisingly not in the starting lineup when Coach Miura and his team welcomed the Indonesian Olympic Team at My Dinh National Stadium on the evening of March 9.

Even coach Aji Santoso of the away team was surprised when he did not see the Nghe An striker in the starting lineup of the Vietnam Olympic team.

“Before the match, I had heard a lot about number 10 (Cong Phuong – PV) about his excellent and intelligent football skills. This is also the reason why I was very surprised when Coach Miura did not let him start in this match,” Coach Aji Santoso said in the post-match press conference.

The Vietnamese Olympic team had a more effective attack after Cong Phuong entered the field in the second half (Photo: Nhung Tran)

This was also the content of most of the reporters' questions for Coach Miura after the match, because Cong Phuong was in good form during the past 20 days of training with the Vietnam Olympic Team.

“Up to this point, I am still in the process of testing the players and have not yet completed the squad for the Vietnam Olympic team. Today, we have 17 players who can play, so whether Cong Phuong or someone else plays from the beginning or in the second half, I really don't care because this does not affect the original tactics of the whole team,” the Japanese strategist frankly responded to questions from the media.

Returning to the friendly match with the Indonesian Olympic team, coach Miura admitted that he was still not completely satisfied with his players' performance, although the 1-0 victory thanks to Huy Toan's only goal in the 75th minute was a good result.

Coach Miura is not completely satisfied with his team's performance.

In addition, the coach born in 1963 also said that both the defense and attack of the Vietnam Olympic team still have many problems that need to be adjusted: "The players in the defense line really played well in this match but often lost in 50-50 situations, this needs to be adjusted a lot because if we win those situations, it will help us have a better game. Meanwhile, the forwards move widely, have a lot of the ball but shoot too little on goal."

Not only that, after the match, Coach Miura also expressed his gratitude to the fans, the enthusiastic fans of the home team who braved the rain to come to My Dinh National Stadium to cheer for the Vietnamese Olympic team even though this was just a friendly match.

“I really appreciate the Vietnamese fans. Everyone enthusiastically cheered for us from the beginning to the end of the match despite the bad weather. This is the motivation for the players to play better on the field, to repay the fans’ love,” said Coach Miura./.

According to VOV