Vietnam team lost Xuan Son, Cambodian coach regrets

"I want the Cambodian team to have a chance to play against Xuan Son to encourage the players to play and compete. Unfortunately, he cannot play," coach Koji Gyotoku said at a press conference this afternoon, March 18, one day before the friendly match between the Vietnamese and Cambodian teams.

Nguyen Xuan Son is the best player, the "top scorer" of the AFF Cup 2024. After only the first 4 matches wearing the Vietnamese national team jersey, the striker born in 1997 scored 7 goals and had 2 assists for his teammates.

Coach Gyotoku

However, Xuan Son's joy in this tournament was not complete. He was injured in the second leg of the final, had to undergo surgery and took 9 months to recover. The Vietnamese team could not use Xuan Son in both matches in this training session.

Coach Koji Gyotoku believes that losing Xuan Son does not weaken the Vietnamese team. The Japanese coach commented: "The Vietnamese team still has good players. Coach Kim Sang-sik organized the Vietnamese team very well. The victory over Thailand affirmed their position as number 1 in Southeast Asia.

I watched the videos of the Vietnamese team's matches, especially the match where Vietnam won against Thailand. I saw the strength and good organization of the Vietnamese team and they deserved to win. We did not play badly in that tournament, although we did not have good results."

The head coach of the Cambodian team declared that he wanted to win. However, he admitted that this was unlikely to happen when he and his students had to compete with a stronger opponent in a situation where they were not well prepared.

"Tomorrow's match, our goal is to win. This goal is difficult. Vietnam is the strongest team in Southeast Asia and the champion of the AFF Cup. We have not fully prepared but will show our strength to Cambodian fans.

I think it will not be easy for the Cambodian team to win. Our goal is to win the match, but besides that, I want to gain experience when playing against the champion. I want to see what the players can do, what they cannot do. That is the important thing," said coach Gyotoku.

Xiao Ming

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/tuyen-viet-nam-mat-xuan-son-hlv-campuchia-tiec-nuoi-ar932408.html