Vietnam visited Bacolod on December 2 to play the semifinal first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018. They were up against a Philippines side who were tipped as the favourites to lift the cup by many.
However, the Golden Dragons put in a good performance and came out with two away goals. Though they conceded their first goal of the competition in the 2-1 win, Vietnam coach Park Hang-seo was still a happy man.
“First of all, I really want (to show my appreciation) to my players for getting a win in an away match, but we still have the second leg in Hanoi. So, we have to (maintain) our focus on the next match. And I want to say thank you to all my players tonight,” Park said during the AFF Suzuki Cup post-match conference.
Quite uncharacteristically, Vietnam conceded a goal for the first time in this year’s competition. The South Korean coach, however, believes his team will learn from their mistakes.
“There is no perfect team. So it was a little bit disappointing to concede a goal, our first in this competition. But we have to prepare more. We recorded this match so we can analyse what we have to improve more for the next match with the coaching staff.”
Finally, Park praised Phan Van Duc for his impressive performance and said that he followed his instructions well.
“(Phan) Van Duc deserved to get man of the match. He did very well in the match what I ordered him. So, this helped him to score a goal in this match,” he concluded.
(Image Credits: Vietnam Football Facebook)