Goalkeeper Van Hoang talks about the opportunity to start for the Vietnam National Team

On the afternoon of September 25, the Vietnam National Team continued to practice on the field of the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center. In an interview before the practice session, goalkeeper Van Hoang said that the whole team held hands together to overcome homesickness in order to practice and compete well.

In less than a week, Coach Park Hang-seo and his team will leave for the UAE to prepare for the match against the Chinese national team, so the entire team is working at full capacity to improve their playing style and aim for the best results.

The next two matches are very important for the Vietnamese team in the competition in the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup. In the past few days, coach Park Hang-seo and his team have been focusing their maximum concentration to have the best preparation before moving to the UAE on October 1.

Coach Park Hang-seo carefully instructed his students before the training session. Photo: Hai Hoang

In an interview before the training session, goalkeeper Nguyen Van Hoang said that currently, head coach Park Hang-seo and the coaching staff are focusing on improving the weak points in the team's playing style, while also reminding the whole team to try hard in training but also to avoid unnecessary injuries.

According to goalkeeper Van Hoang, despite the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Vietnamese national team is focusing every day, every training session to try to improve, learn from past matches to have better results in the upcoming matches. "In this third qualifying round, all opponents are at the continental level, so the Vietnamese team will face many difficulties. I think that in the last two matches, although we have not yet scored any points, the team has shown a positive performance in spirit and playing style. The whole team is practicing tactics as well as analyzing the Chinese team and preparing physically for the match. As for the special notes from the coaching staff about the Chinese opponent, I will not disclose them."Van Hoang said.

Goalkeeper Van Hoang during training this morning. Photo: Hai Hoang

During this training session, the Vietnamese team suffered a loss in defense when goalkeeper Dang Van Lam could not return to the team due to an unfortunate injury during a training session at Cerezo Osaka Club. Therefore, coach Park Hang-seo summoned goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh to join the team's preparation force.

Assessing his chances in the competition for the goalkeeping position, Van Hoang said:“I think not only me but any player when wearing the national team jersey must always try their best, try to perform their best in training sessions. Whether they are on the field or not, they must try every day to improve their ability, as well as through that help the team to compete with each other and develop more.”.

Van Hoang also shared:“Although I haven't had the chance to play yet, I have learned a lot from training with the national team, especially from the positions of Tan Truong and Dang Van Lam, who are the best goalkeepers in Vietnam.”

Van Hoang answers the interview. Photo: Hai Hoang

Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, many players have not been able to see their family members for a long time. However, for the common goal, the whole team has joined hands to overcome homesickness.

“It has been a long time since we had the chance to go home, but because of the team’s common goal and the team’s first participation in the Third Qualifying Round of the World Cup, everyone understands that the opportunity does not come often, so we encourage each other to try harder, communicate and interact with each other more to ease the homesickness. Through this, I also want to tell my family at home to try harder, my teammates and I will also try our best to compete and achieve good results, helping the home team to ease the longing for their loved ones,” said the goalkeeper from Tan Ky.

At this afternoon's training session, the team received good news with the return of central defender Nguyen Thanh Chung after a period of training separately to recover from an injury. Meanwhile, two newly called-up players, Pham Xuan Manh and Do Thanh Thinh, have also arrived in Hanoi. However, the defender duo must undergo medical examinations to ensure Covid-19 prevention and control before they can join the team's training sessions.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Vietnam National Team will have another internal practice match with the Vietnam U22 Team to test the effectiveness of training as well as continue to evaluate and review the force.