Coach Park Hang-seo's assistant: "AFF Cup will be very difficult for the Vietnamese team"

“Vietnam played well at the U23 Asian Cup and the Asian Games. But the AFF Cup is a different story. This is a tournament for national teams, not youth teams. It won’t be easy,” assistant Lee Young-jin toldVnExpress.

This morning (October 11), the players gathered in Hanoi to prepare for the AFF Cup 2018. However, Coach Park Hang-seo has not yet had all 30 members on the list because 13 players from Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, and Binh Duong clubs are preparing to play in the National Cup, while Viet Tu of Nam Dinh is about to fight in the play-off match with Hanoi B Club to decide the ticket to V-League 2019.

“The coaching staff has to prepare carefully. We discuss football with each other anytime, anywhere,” Mr. Lee Young-jin shared while eating and talking with assistant Bae Ji-won and coach Park Hang-seo.

Lee Young-jin is called his “brain” by coach Park Hang-seo. The former player who participated in the World Cup twice with the Korean national team always directly teaches the team’s training sessions and gives tactical ideas for coach Park Hang-seo to approve before each match.

Captain Van Quyet said that he and his teammates really respect assistant Lee Young-jin. He has expertise and experience, and he also teaches the players very well. Even when moving, Mr. Lee Young-jin often calls out a few players to give them more instructions on their weak points.

“When I came to Vietnam, I only focused on football. I can say that I thought about football 24 hours a day. In my room, the football channel was on all day, I watched the V-League, the Premier League, the Champions League... I often watched football on TV until I fell asleep without knowing, it was normal to forget to turn it off,” Mr. Lee Young-jin happily added.

In addition to his good expertise, Mr. Lee Young-jin is very tactful in his behavior. He often skillfully stays behind coach Park Hang-seo, not letting his role be too prominent in front of everyone.

After the National Cup final on October 15, the Vietnamese team will have a full squad of 30 players. The team will then immediately travel to Korea for training and will return to Vietnam on October 30 to finalize the list of 23 players to play in the 2018 AFF Cup.