Vietnam’s coach Calisto said his side have made careful drills for the first-leg semifinal clash at the Suzuki Cup with Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur today despite the absence of four key players due to injuries.
“There will be apparent changes in the tactics of Vietnam during the first-leg semifinal match with Malaysia due to the absence of four key players -- or a third of the team,” the Portuguese Henrique Calisto said.
Who are on the bench today?
Without defenders Viet Cuong and Quang Thanh and midfielders Trong Hoang and Tai Em, we can’t introduce our strongest line-up for this important game.
They will need at least 10 more days to recover.
I know Malaysia also face injuries but I don’t care much about that. My biggest concern now is to introduce our best team possible.
It seems that you made many changes during training in the past days?
Exactly. Minh Phuong will replace Tai Em in the midfield to pair with Thanh Hung in the center. Hung is strong in making long shots and surprising rivals to stir up disorder in their box with his dribbling skill.
Dinh Dong is set to fill in the left-back of Viet Cuong and Huy Hoang may replace Quang Thanh on the right-back position.
You venture yourself with the changes, don’t you?
No. They are based on precise considerations and actual abilities of my players.
Can you guess the playing style of Malaysians?
They may attack at the beginning to promote their advantage of playing on their home land. Besides, they can’t resort to defense as they still have a second-leg game in Hanoi.
I guess Malaysians may also apply tough style of playing to neutralize short passes of Vietnam and leave no space for the visitors.
What will you do then?
My advice to my players is to keep calm and patience. The tough style of playing by Malaysians will facilitate Vietnam in deploying counterattack which is our advantage.
We set up a target of finding point(s) from this encounter, without using defensive style of competition.
You have solutions now, but you still look anxious?
Yes, I was anxious but now is not the time to complain. Our job is to find out optimal solution to complete the target of defending the championship title.
So, will Vietnam start today with goalkeeper Tan Truong, defenders Dinh Dong, Nhu Thanh, Phuoc Tu, Huy Hoang, midfielders Thanh Luong, Tan Tai, Thanh Hung, Minh Phuong, Vu Phong, and forward Anh Duc?
Maybe.
