Vietnam coach Park Hang-seo has expressed his satisfaction with the performance delivered by the Golden Dragons in their last Group D match, facing Yemen at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on the night of January 16 (local time).

Vietnam players and officials rejoice after scoring against Yemen. (Photo: AFC)

Two goals from set-pieces (a freekick and a penalty) by Nguyen Quang Hai and Que Ngoc Hai helped Park’s troops emerge as the 2-0 victors, keeping their hopes of progressing to the Round of 16 of the 2019 Asian Cup alive.

Addressing a post-match press conference, the Republic of Korea coach said he was pleased with the display of Vietnamese players during the match.

“Today is the last group match, and all the players fought to the best of their ability. The whole team played a brilliant game, and I highly appreciate the players’ high level of concentration throughout the 90 minutes”.

Despite the triumph, Park showed his regrets as Vietnam could not build on their two-goal advantage to score additional goals against the West Asian team. “We could have netted more than two goals, but anyway, winning the full three points was an amazing result”.

Talking about his substitutions, the 60-year-old tactician stated that he wanted to ensure the Vietnamese side’s constant attacking power during the match. “I chose substitution measures to ensure Vietnam’s constant attacking power. It was a must for us to win three points in this encounter, so I asked my players to stay optimally focused to fulfill that goal”.

Park admitted that Vietnam were under huge pressure ahead of the game with Yemen. The developments in Group A and B had forced the Golden Dragons to beat the West Asian opponents with a wide margin to foster hopes of advancing.

“Prior to the match, my players suffered a lot of pressure in hunting for the three points. I always tried to encourage my boys to help them adjust their psychology aiming to get best prepared. I told the players to maintain a playing style of fast ball”.

By standing third among the six third-placed teams, Vietnam will have to wait for the results of the Oman-Turkmenistan and Lebanon-DPR Korea clashes tonight to confirm whether they qualify for the knockout stage or not. Commenting on this point, Park said: “As the head coach, I really want the Vietnamese team to book a knockout berth. In the opposite case, I just want to say to Vietnamese fans that we need time to gradually improve the expertise of the national football”.

Nhan Dan