Coach Park Hang-seo reveals tactics ahead of Asian Cup 2019

Two days ago, the Vietnamese national team officially arrived in the UAE to begin their journey at the 2019 Asian Cup. Ahead of the tournament, coach Park Hang-seo's team is receiving a lot of expectations after a successful 2018 with the championship at the AFF Suzuki Cup.

Coach Park Hang-seo and his players are ready for the 2019 Asian Cup. Photo: Provided by VFF

Recently, in an interview with the media, Coach Park Hang-seo made comments about the upcoming important tournament. As usual, before major tournaments, the Korean coach always "wound up" his players' spirit with confident statements.

Yonhap News quoted Coach Park: "We currently do not have any major weaknesses. The team's goal is to get past the group stage. Currently, we are a strong team in Southeast Asia. However, things will certainly be much more difficult at the continental level."

“I was quite worried when at the 2019 Asian Cup, the Vietnam national team was in the same group with very strong opponents. I have not experienced the feeling of leading the national team in a tournament with strong opponents from West Asia or North Asia. However, I had a similar experience with the Vietnam U23 team."

Coach Park Hang-seo is worried about the mentality of young players when playing at the Asian Cup. Photo: Provided by VFF

Yesterday, the second day in the UAE - where the tournament takes place, Mr. Park once again emphasized: “We will play against a very strong team, Iraq, on January 8. Before trying to score, Vietnam needs to keep a clean sheet. Therefore, we must defend in depth right from the midfield. After a counterattack, we need to quickly retreat to our home field, quickly switch to a defensive style of play and vice versa. We also need to quickly switch from a defensive style of play to a counterattack.

This transition requires flexible and well-coordinated play from the entire team. Iraq is a team with high technical skills and a very good physical foundation. It is necessary to create smoothness so that Vietnam's playing style will not be destroyed at the Asian Cup."

In recent training sessions, Mr. Park continued to experiment with the center forward position. According to the Korean coach, what he is most worried about at the moment is that the young players' mentality may not be stable when facing top teams like Iraq or Iran./.

Vietnam National Team's match schedule at Asian Cup 2019:

8/1: 20:30: Iraq vs Vietnam

12/1: 18:00: Vietnam vs Iran

16/1: 23:00: Vietnam vs Yemen

Coach Park Hang-seo: I always dare to face failure

(Baonghean.vn) - Despite the great success with Vietnamese football in recent times, the Korean coach still strives every day to bring new achievements to Vietnamese football. However, he also understands that nothing lasts forever.