Answering Japanese newspaper: Cong Phuong has high expectations for the Vietnam National Team under coach Huu Thang

In an interview with a Japanese journalist for Vietnam Football Digest, striker Cong Phuong expressed his hope that the national team under new coach Huu Thang will reap more success.

Japanese is difficult, I miss Pleiku

Up to this point, Cong Phuong has had nearly 2 months of training in Japan for the Mito Hollyhock Club. The shoulder injury he suffered in the final match of U23 Vietnam against U23 UAE at the 2016 AFC U23 Championship has gradually recovered. And at the same time, the 21-year-old striker is also gradually learning and adapting to life in the land of the rising sun.

“Life and training in Japan have gradually become more familiar to me,” Cong Phuong shared with the Japanese journalist. “Mito City is not as crowded as I thought. Sometimes, I still miss Pleiku.”

On his free days, Cong Phuong often relaxes by listening to music in his room or walking around Mito City. However, the language barrier and limited Japanese skills prevent the striker from Do Luong from communicating much with the locals.

Cong Phuong diligently studies Japanese when going to Mito Hollyhock

“Japanese is really difficult. I still study by myself every day. But until now, I can only communicate with my teammates mainly in English. I can only speak a little Japanese like Hello, how are you, how old are you…”.

Playing abroad is a dream

The language difference is a real challenge for Cong Phuong as well as many other players when playing abroad. However, that cannot stop the dream of playing in a more developed football country.

“Since joining the HA.GL Arsenal JMG training center, playing abroad has been a dream of mine. I have had experiences in Africa and that has strongly motivated that dream. Japan is one of the countries with developed football. I thought it would be a good opportunity to develop myself. So I decided to move here (Japan).”

Cong Phuong is gradually recovering from his injury, waiting for the day he can take the field to face Tuan Anh's Yokohama FC.

Besides Cong Phuong, another HA.GL player, Nguyen Tuan Anh, also dreams of improving his level by playing in Japan. The only difference is that the team he plays for is Yokohama, a team in the same J.League 2 as Mito Hollyhock.

“I often talk to Tuan Anh using an internet calling app,” said Cong Phuong. “He (Tuan Anh) is the reason I want to play in the match between Mito Hollyhock and Yokohama FC.”

Expectations for the progress of the Vietnamese team

The move of dribbling the ball in the circle of 6 U19 Australian players before scoring a beautiful goal for U19 Vietnam at the 2014 U19 Southeast Asian tournament made Cong Phuong be compared to "Messi of Vietnam". However, for this player, his idols are not the star currently playing for Barcelona. "The Japanese player I like the most is Kagawa. When I was a kid, I idolized Ro "beo" and now it's Neymar", Cong Phuong openly shared.

The Vietnamese team under coach Huu Thang is off to a positive start with 2 wins and 1 draw - Photo: Minh Tuan.

Regarding the journalist's question about J.League's strategy of focusing on the Southeast Asian player market, the striker currently playing for Mito Hollyhock frankly said: "For Southeast Asian players, this is really a very good opportunity. I myself, like many people, have high hopes that in the future there will be more Vietnamese players playing in J.League."

A clear demonstration of the development of ability when playing abroad was shown through the performance of two teammates of Cong Phuong at HA.GL, Xuan Truong and Tuan Anh. Under the guidance of new head coach Nguyen Huu Thang, the pair who are playing in Korea (Incheon United – Xuan Truong) and Japan (Yokohama FC – Tuan Anh) quickly demonstrated their ability and soon made their mark in the home team’s goals (making their mark in 6/10 goals of the Vietnam National Team).

“The Vietnamese team under the leadership of the new head coach (Mr. Nguyen Huu Thang) is gradually improving over time. I hope that this can bring more success to the team,” said Cong Phuong. “The next two tournaments will be very important for the Vietnamese team, which are the AFF Suzuki Cup 2016 and the SEA Games 2017.”

Source: Bongdaplus.vn