Coach Riedl: "Vietnam National Team faces great pressure at AFF Cup"

AFF Cup 2018 is about to start, assessing the strength of the teams participating in the tournament. Coach Alfred Riedl believes that the Vietnam team is capable of competing for the championship. However, the former coach of the Vietnam team believes that to achieve glory, Coach Park Hang Seo and his team need to overcome the obstacle of pressure.

Coach Alfred Riedl once led the Vietnam National Team.

Coach Alfred Riedl said: "At the AFF Cup, the Thai team is considered the top candidate for the championship. But in this year's tournament, I think Vietnam and Indonesia have a great chance of winning the championship. In this tournament, the biggest obstacle for the Vietnamese team is pressure. Pressure from outside, from the expectations of the media and from the fans."

Regarding the issue of pressure, coach Park Hang Seo recently admitted that this was an obstacle for him. Because in the contract signed with VFF, the achievement at the 2018 AFF Cup was set as the main goal.

Coach Riedl highly appreciated Vietnam and Indonesia competing for the AFF Cup 2018 championship, the reason he gave was because Thailand entered the tournament this year with not the strongest squad. Accordingly, 4 pillars of Thailand are playing abroad: Chanathip Songkrasin, Teerasil Dangda, Kawin and Theerathon. These 4 players are all playing abroad. Coach Riedl said he was very surprised that the Thai national team did not call up 4 stars at all costs and let the "reserve" squad compete in the AFF Cup 2018.

Coach Alfred Riedl had 3 periods leading the Vietnam National Team, during which time he helped Vietnam football finish 2nd at the AFF Cup 1998. Also in the past, Mr. Riedl had 3 other periods leading the Indonesian National Team.

Currently, coach Riedl has not decided to return to coach after leaving the Indonesian national team in 2016.