The 2018 AFF Cup champions made it through to the round of 16 as one of the four best third-placed teams, snatching the last berth from Lebanon thanks to their better disciplinary record – Vietnam conceded five yellow cards compared to seven of Miodrag Radulovic’s side.
Meanwhile, Jordan were more impressive in their group-stage journey, upsetting reign champions Australia 1-0, seeing off Syria 2-0 and drawing 0-0 with Palestine to qualify as the Group B winners.
“I feel very happy as Vietnam have booked a round of 16 place. We hope to have a good match against Jordan,” Park said in a press conference ahead of the round of 16 tie on the afternoon of January 19. “Our opponents have prepared thoroughly for the match. After analysing two Jordan matches, I realise that they are much stronger than the previous meetings with Vietnam,” he stated.
The Republic of Korea coach admitted that it is going to be a tough game for the Golden Dragons on Sunday.
“We have already played stronger teams than Jordan in this competition, such as Iran and Iraq. It will be tough, but we will help my players to tap into Jordan’s weakness and gain a good result,” he said.
Park also revealed the tactic that Jordan often use in the tournament. “Jordan wrapped up the group stage as the group winners and with a clean sheet, which shows that they have a resilient defensive line. However, through the videos, I see that all of their goals came from the same formula of long passes. I will work out solutions to this problem”.
The round of 16 clash between Vietnam and Jordan will take place at Al Maktoum Stadium at 6pm tomorrow.
Iran’s Alireza Faghani has been assigned as the referee for the game. He once oversaw four matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, including Germany-Mexico, Serbia-Brazil (group stage), France-Argentine (round of 16), and Belgium-England (third-place match). Faghani was appointed to referee the final second leg between Vietnam and Malaysia at last year’s AFF Suzuki Cup.
