Coach Philippe Troussier is satisfied with completing the set goal.

Speaking at a press conference after U23 Vietnam won 1-0 against U23 Yemen and secured an early ticket to the 2024 AFC U23 Championship Finals, coach Philippe Troussier said he was satisfied with having achieved his set goal. He hopes to continue to guide Vietnamese players to change their approach to the game, control the ball and coordinate more smoothly.

"The way I aim for Vietnamese players is to change the way they approach the game and control the ball. It's not always easy for the team to get to the back of the field and penetrate the opponent's defense. But there are matches where just 1 or 2 reasonable situations are enough to resolve the situation.

After the victory over U23 Guam, I know that public opinion said that U23 Vietnam got 3 points as a matter of course. But today, we saw that U23 Guam is not a weak team when playing against U23 Singapore. Vietnam won because they imposed the match and forced Guam to make mistakes and expose their errors. And to do it smoothly like that, we need to strengthen the individuals," said coach Philippe Troussier.

The French coach emphasized: "Vietnamese players will continue to improve in the future. What I want is for the players to strictly follow how to play, deploying with standard exercises every day of practice. Previously, Vietnam's goals were often random or lucky situations. But now, there are still moments that come from luck, I want the team's playing style to be more modern.

We see that at the level of European players, 95% of the time on the pitch is spent controlling the ball. Man City even maximizes that. Meanwhile, in some matches in the V-League, we only see an average of 20% of the ball rolling. The rest are disputes, unclear actions, fouls, penalties or corner kicks. I want the players to change their approach. The quality of the players must improve even more, and the connection must be smoother."

Coach Philippe Troussier is satisfied with completing the set goal photo 2

Group C of the 2024 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers after two matches. (Photo: VFF)

Commenting on the match against U23 Yemen, coach Philippe Troussier said that in terms of the game, in the first half, the players were a bit tense. The team had many passing errors, lacked continuity in coordination or pressure when defending.

"In the second half, I made some changes in personnel and tactics, with Ho Van Cuong being the 'trump card'. I also brought Duy Cuong onto the field because Ngoc Thang had received a yellow card earlier. Duy Cuong's presence created a solid defense, thereby helping the attack to strengthen their confidence. Khuat Van Khang, Dinh Bac, and Vi Hao were brought onto the field one after another. I'm not saying they were reserve players, but players who finished the match. And Bui Vi Hao was the one who did it. He finished the match," said Mr. Troussier.

Regarding the match against U23 Singapore, coach Philippe Troussier said he might give opportunities to players who have played little or not yet. If the team wants to go far with long-term goals in the future, they cannot rely on the 11 starting players or the 23 players registered for the qualifying round.

"We still have many U23 players who can improve, compete for positions and have not been used. My goal now is how to arrange them to have a balanced squad," coach Troussier concluded.

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