Thailand U23 coach: 'It's okay to lose to Vietnam'

 Thailand U23 coach: 'It's okay to lose to Vietnam'

On the afternoon of February 25, the head coaches of Thailand and Vietnam U23 exchanged information before the final match of the 2022 Southeast Asian U23 tournament.

Thailand U23 head coach Salvador Garcia shared: "Yesterday we saw Vietnam play. They played well for 120 minutes despite the lack of players. We respect U23 Vietnam".

"I don't know how many players U23 Vietnam will have for tomorrow's match, they have suffered too much because of the Covid-19 epidemic. Hopefully they will have the best players, so do we," Mr. Salvador Garcia said.

Thailand U23 head coach does not want to reveal the number of the team until now. He also said that there is no need to do ideological work to force the students to win.

"I have nothing to encourage players. This is just a practice tournament. Thailand is also younger than many teams, determined to come here to learn and prepare for the future. Of course, winning the championship is It doesn't matter if they lose well, they still have many important prizes ahead of them and will continue to develop in the future," said coach Garcia.

u23 viet nam - u23 thailand english 1

U23 Vietnam entered the final after 3 wins. Photo: Nguyen Khang.

Before the day of the match, U23 Vietnam received good news when 4 players including Ho Van Cuong, Hoang Van Toan and Tran Manh Quynh had negative results when taking a quick Covid-19 test. They will need to be further tested by RT-PCR from the organizers and if they continue to be negative, they can play in the match against Thailand U23.

Coach Dinh The Nam shared: "I always respect Thailand, but please allow me not to share anything about tactics at this time. We are focusing on recovery and have a certain preparation."

Victory over Thailand in the final is what Vietnam U23 is aspire to. Coach Dinh The Nam said: "We have come here together to try to get the best results. Vietnamese players have great solidarity and desire to win. Professionally, they are not as good as they are. I wish, but this is inevitable, I can only encourage each one."

In the first confrontation in the group stage, U23 Vietnam beat Thailand U23 1-0 with the only goal from Nguyen Trung Thanh's free kick.

The final match of U23 Southeast Asia 2022 between U23 Vietnam and U23 Thailand will take place at 19:30 on February 26.