The team have played a recent friendly against local K-League 1 team Incheon United, as the coaching staff have been seeking way to improve the squad.
With just two weeks until the kick off of the most important tournament of the year, Park and his players have all set their expectations for the important training in the ROK. After the warm-up and relaxed exercises that helped the team recover quickly, after the Vietnamese professional league – V-League – has just wrapped up, in the recent training sessions, the coaching board have increased the intensity aimed at reinforcing strength, endurance and speed for players.
In the friendly match against K-League 1 representatives, Park gave the opportunity for almost all of his 30-member squad to be on the pitch, using different lineups in each of the two 45-minute sessions. Against the opponents who are physically stronger with better speed, the Vietnamese team still created good opportunities to score. However, they conceded two goals in the second half and striker Van Quyet only narrowed the gap to 1-2 in the 54th minute. Two conceded goals came after personal faults in the defensive line, however, Park expressed sympathy as these positions have not often played together.
The biggest problem is still finding the suitable replacement for winger Van Thanh, who will miss the upcoming campaign due to injury. "Van Thanh's replacement has been tested by a range of his teammates, but after the last friendly, I personally feel that I need more testing to find the optimal face for this vacant position,” said the 59-year-old coach.
Despite the match losing failure, Park was pleased with the experience gained. In the last two days, in addition to the technical and tactical exercises, the coach also focused on analysing and correcting technical errors suffered by the players against Incheon United, which featured particularly in the way of moving and coordination, as well as covering in the organisation of the defensive system.
The Vietnamese players are getting comfortable and ready to enter the next friendly against another representative from the K-League 1, Seoul FC - the team are considered the strongest among the three opponents of Park’s side during their two-week training.
