Striker Van Toan: Vietnam team eagerly awaits tomorrow's match

This afternoon (November 15), coach Philippe Troussier and striker Nguyen Van Toan held a press conference before the match with the Philippines in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. The match will take place tomorrow (November 16) at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Sharing at the press conference, striker Van Toan said that currently the Vietnam team will no longer focus too much on the artificial turf in the Philippines: "The artificial turf makes the two teams' playing style change a lot, the rhythm is different from natural grass. As the coach said, the whole team has practiced from Vietnam to the Philippines. Instead of focusing on the difficulties of artificial turf, the players will try to improve themselves to have the best playing condition."

The striker of the Vietnam team also said that the players have also experienced a lot of pressure so they have experience: "We have gone through many tournaments together. Hopefully the Vietnamese people will support the team to have the best match tomorrow. Every tournament starts with pressure. But competing in many different big and small tournaments, the players have all experienced pressure and have experience."

Van Toan also hopes for a good result in the opening match of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup: ''The atmosphere of the Vietnam National Team is completely ready for the match with the Philippines tomorrow. As coach Troussier said, through each training session over the past 8 months, everyone has gotten used to this atmosphere. The players are ready for the upcoming match, hoping for the best result for the Vietnam National Team".

I feel lucky to be playing in the World Cup qualifiers again. This is the first official tournament with coach Troussier so I am very excited for the upcoming match. All the players have a lot of experience, so there is nothing that can affect the spirit and confidence of the whole team,'' Van Toan concluded.