VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam and Malaysia will be face to face in the first semi-final game of the ASEAN Football Cup 2010 (AFF Cup) at 7 pm today, December 15. Both coaches expressed their respect to each other and their confidence in their teams.

At the press conference in Kuala Lumpur one day before the game, Vietnam’s coach Henrique Calisto said his side has carefully drilled for the first-leg semifinal clash despite the absence of four key players due to injuries, including Quang Thanh, Tai Em, Trong Hoang and Viet Cuong.

“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. There will be changes in the Vietnam’s tactics during the first-leg semifinal match with Malaysia,” he said.

The coach made many changes during training in the last couples of days.

According to Calisto, Minh Phuong will replace Tai Em in the midfield to pair with Thanh Hung in the center while 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.

He said the Malaysian team now is very different from the Malaysian team at the AFF Cup 2008.

“They now have a new coach and new playing style. Rajagobal is a good coach and we met each other one year ago in Laos, at the Southeast Asian Games,” the coach said.

Guessing the playing style of Malaysia, Calisto said: “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 a tough style of playing to neutralize short passes of Vietnam and leave no space for the us.”

“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,” he said.

Malaysia’s coach Rajagobal said: “We have experienced tough matches in the qualifier round. Some players are injured but it is not an issue to worry about. Vietnam has many good players, who are more experienced than ours”.

The coach praised Vietnam’s fast attacks and he said Malaysia will win 1-0 or 2-0.

PV