Vietnam’s football teams could achieve more success at the regional and international arena, said national team coach Park Hang-seo in an exchange programme with hundreds of Vietnamese students in the Republic of Korea (RoK) on February 11 ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet).

Coach Park Hang-seo takes photo with participants at the exchange programme in Seoul 

The Korean received a raucous applauses while entering the hall of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

He said he was now in the RoK but felt like staying in Vietnam thanks to the warm welcome from Vietnamese people. 

The head coach affirmed his hope to contribute more to Vietnamese football, promoting relations between Vietnam and the RoK.

He was confident that the Southeast Asian country could reap more success at both regional and global competitions in the future.

The atmosphere in Vietnam during the team’s run to the final of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship was similar to that of the RoK on the occasion of World Cup 2002, he said, adding that the achievement of the Vietnamese football team was a source of great pride for him.

In reply to Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tu’s question, he said before each match, he and his football players always huddle together and shout “One! Two! Three! Fighting!”

Park described his relations with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) as “fate” when the two sides signed a contract. Similarities in life and in culture between the two nations have helped him quickly understand Vietnamese footballers, he noted.

He advised Vietnamese players to keep their feet on the ground. This is not the peak of Vietnam’s football, so footballers need to improve their skills and have more enthusiasm to go further, he noted.

Sharing his experiences in Vietnam after leading the national football team from late October 2017, the 59-year-old said he loves Vietnamese food, particularly “pho” and “bun cha”.

He expressed his deep gratitude to Vietnamese people, especially the Vietnamese community in the RoK, for their warm sentiments to him and the U23 team.

He said he was very happy to make a small contribution to enhancing ties between Vietnam and the RoK, and vowed to exert more efforts to make football become one of the fields that contribute greatly to the development of bilateral relations.-VNA