Coach Philippe Troussier: 'I want to aim for the U23 Asian qualifiers'

Defeating Myanmar 3-1, U22 Vietnam said goodbye to the SEA Games with a Bronze Medal. Evaluating the match, coach Philippe Troussier said: “The team's goal was to win to get the Bronze Medal. At the same time, I also want to use this victory to have a positive memory for the tournament, through which everyone will have pictures with the medal to remember the 32nd SEA Games.

Coach Philippe Troussier shared about upcoming plans.

Before the match, I told the players that this was the first match of a new journey. The new journey I wanted to talk about was the 2024 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. The team needed to prepare early to aim for future goals.

In this match, Ho Van Cuong, despite being a defender, scored 2 goals. That is the appearance of the attacking style of play that I want to show.

Ho Van Cuong scored two goals in the Bronze Medal match.

I feel that in Vietnamese football, many goals come from accidental situations, due to opponent mistakes, luck, referees... I want goals to come from calculated arrangements."

"Today I am satisfied with the performance of the players. Of course I understand that the Bronze Medal cannot satisfy the expectations of the fans, but I want to use the SEA Games to train and observe the progress of the players, thereby not only setting goals in Southeast Asia but also aiming for the Asian playground. That is why I want to thank what happened at this SEA Games," the French strategist shared.

U22 Vietnam played aggressively against U22 Myanmar.

Despite winning the Bronze Medal, coach Philippe Troussier affirmed that U22 Vietnam is not inferior to its opponents at the SEA Games.

“At the 32nd SEA Games, U22 Vietnam faced strong opponents in the region, namely Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. But in terms of organization, tactics and playing style, I can say that no team is superior to U22 Vietnam.

Everything is equal. I think the difference is the real-life experience. Thai and Indonesian players play regularly in the national championship, and even play abroad.

The U22 Vietnam players thanked the fans for their support throughout the tournament.

Vietnam U22 entered the field with a squad consisting of many U20 players, while the opponent was mainly U22. I think this generation of players will be very promising and worth looking forward to in the next SEA Games,” Mr. Troussier assessed.

Regarding the reason why U22 Vietnam will not attend ASIAD 19 in September, coach Troussier said: “Tournaments like ASIAD or U23 Southeast Asia are not part of FIFA Days, so it is difficult to arrange. Based on the spirit of preserving the integrity of the tournament system, we do not want to affect it too much.

Of course, even the U20 team is not sure to have the best force because the clubs need people. However, VFF and I have agreed on this decision. The tournament that needs priority is the 2024 U23 Asian qualifiers and the World Cup qualifiers. The team must also ensure harmony of interests with the club, otherwise it is not good if the V-League is interrupted for too long.

I want to build the national team from the foundation of the clubs. When there is a strong national championship, the national team will naturally be strong."