"The goal is so that we can get a card to the final round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia," said the head coach.

Currently, after five matches, the Vietnamese team has 11 points, ranking first in Group G. It is likely that the Korean coach and his players are aiming to defeat Indonesia and Malaysia.

Of these two rivals, if Indonesia has been eliminated, Malaysia will no longer have the home advantage because the remaining matches of Group G will be held in one place, perhaps in the United Arab Emirates or Thailand.

According to the schedule announced earlier by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Vietnamese team will face Indonesia on June 7, Malaysia on June 11 and the United Arab Emirates on June 15.

"In 2021, the Vietnamese football team will play in some important tournaments and they are great challenges. Our success is in the past, but now the team must look to the future,” the coach said.

“This is a busy year, so we will have to allocate strength in major tournaments such as the World Cup qualifiers, the Asian U23 qualifiers, the SEA Games and AFF Cup," he added.

The Korean coach admitted that he and his team would do their best to fulfill the goals.

Regarding the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, if the United Arab Emirates is chosen as the host, Vietnam and three other Southeast Asian teams in the group will have to play in extreme weather conditions. Their matches will take place in June, the peak of the summer heatwave in the Middle East. In 2020, there were days when the temperature there reached 43 degrees Celsius.

In another development, the Vietnamese team will not have to be isolated when they arrive at the place where the remaining three matches of the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup will be held. However, the players will be regularly tested for Covid-19 before and during the tournament.

Huy Phong

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