Cong Phuong: I have confidence to score against U-23 Australia
Speaking before the afternoon training session of the Vietnam U-23 team on January 12 in Kunshan (China), striker Nguyen Cong Phuong said he always has confidence in scoring against the Australian U-23 team in the second match of Group D of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship taking place on January 14.
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| Cong Phuong answers press interviews. Photo: NK |
Cong Phuong scored a double against U-19 Australia in the 5-1 victory of U-19 Vietnam in the 2014 U-19 Asian qualifiers and another goal in the 1-0 victory in the 2014 Southeast Asian Championship. Therefore, at the U-23 level, Cong Phuong continues to be expected by experts to use his affinity with Australian youth teams to help him score goals, thereby helping U-23 Vietnam achieve a good result at the 2018 U-23 Asian Championship.
Talking about this, Cong Phuong shared: “Everyone keeps talking about my luck in scoring against the Australian youth team. But before that was at the U-19 level, now at the U-23 level, everything is different, the opponent is very strong. Therefore, the whole team will try our best to get the best result. However, I always have the confidence to score against the Australian youth teams.”
Cong Phuong also revealed that he and his teammates could not hide their regret after losing 1-2 to U-23 Korea on January 11. He said: “After the match yesterday (January 11), everyone felt a little regretful because we could not keep the score tied. But now, we encourage each other to try to have the best spirit for the match with U-23 Australia on January 14.”
Commenting on his performance in the match against U-23 Korea, Cong Phuong said: “U-23 Korea almost controlled the ball. U-23 Vietnam mainly kicked the ball up, so controlling the ball was difficult. I myself did not have much of the ball, nor could I support my teammates well. However, I am temporarily satisfied with my performance.”
Defender Doan Van Hau - the player who committed the foul that led to the penalty kick but the Korean U-23 team missed - also shared that Vietnam U-23 is actively looking forward to the match with Australia U-23.
He said: “After the match, Coach Park Hang Seo and the whole team looked back at the good and bad aspects to look forward to the next match. In the match with U-23 Korea, there were times when the team was very confident, but there were minutes when the team was very unconfident. In general, the confidence was not complete for 90 minutes. We need to change this to look forward to the match with U-23 Australia.”
Speaking more about the match with U-23 Australia, Van Hau said the whole team will try harder to get a good result. He said: “In our group, the opponents are all very tall and strong in the air. Therefore, coach Park Hang Seo instructed our defenders not to commit fouls in the home field, because the opponents' set pieces are very dangerous. We will try to gradually correct this. We will play with more concentration and try to maintain confidence for 90 minutes.”