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HANOI – Vietnam head coach Park Hang-seo is not thinking about his impressive coaching record against Malaysia, ahead of the clash between the two teams in the 2022 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Cup Group B match at My Dinh National Stadium here tomorrow night.
The South Korean coach, who will bid farewell to the Golden Star Warriors on a mutual decision after the tournament, said his unbeaten record against Malaysia means nothing.
“In my five years in Vietnam, including my time with the youth teams, I’ve never lost against Malaysia, but these numbers mean nothing. They are just references so we can’t say this will indicate what the result will be tomorrow.
“All I can say is that I have trust and belief in my players, and like Malaysia, we will be doing our best to win the game,” said the 65-year-old coach during a pre-match press conference at the Vietnam Football Federation headquarters here today.
At the same time, Hang-seo described the current Malaysian team as the best, although they are going through the AFF Cup campaign without several key players.
“I think the current Malaysian team is the best squad. They have good experience and what we need to do is to put the right players and formation to face Malaysia. We focus on our game plan,” he said.
He also praised the achievements of the Malaysian head coach and his countryman Kim Pan-gon, after he succeeded in improving the performance of the Harimau Malaya squad.
Meanwhile, Vietnam midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc said: “I just got to know the Malaysian coach during the AFF Cup. Based on Malaysia’s last two matches, I can see that this team is different now, very fast in attacking, and with approaches different from before.”
Tomorrow’s match will be the first meeting between Pan-gon and Hang-seo, after Pan-gon was appointed to guide the Harimau Malaya squad earlier this year.
Malaysia have yet to defeat Vietnam in all competitions in the last eight years – losing six and drawing once. The last time Malaysia won was in the 2014 AFF Cup semi-finals second leg with a 4-2 victory.
After two matches, Malaysia leads the group with six points, while Vietnam and Singapore, who have only played once, share three points each and are in second and third positions. Myanmar and Laos are in the bottom two spots without any points. – Bernama, December 26, 2022