The Vietnamese team train for the match with Australia in the qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup today. Photo VFF

Football

MELBOURNE — Despite being clear underdogs, Việt Nam coach Park Hang-seo believes his team will show grit and determination when they face Australia later today in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

The Socceroos may well be clear favourites to collect all three points at the Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne this afternoon, but coach Park feels earning their first points of the campaign is not beyond the realms of possibility.

He feels Australia are far from the finished article, and has studied hard along with his technical team to work out the cracks in their armour.

"Việt Nam have lost all six matches and have no points,” coach Park told a press conference yesterday.

“Australia are in third place and they really want to win at home. But actually, we also really need points and try to do our best to get points.

"Now it's not easy to find the disadvantages of the top Asian team like Australia. They have more advantages than disadvantages, but every team have their disadvantages. We are not as fit as Australia, however, we will still make every effort."

Meanwhile, midfielder and captain Đỗ Hùng Dũng when he returned to the team after recovered from his injury, he received a lot of support from his teammates and the coaching staff.

“It didn't take long for me to integrate with the team. We hope we can play well in the match with Australia,” said Dũng.

"I used to be the captain of U23 team, so I am also confident that I will do well. We have trained hard in the past few days and hope to have a good result against Australia."

The South Korean coach Park will eliminate one player among 24 players before heading into the match today.

He said: "It is not easy to remove a player. We will review the players' injury situation and discuss with the coaching staff to make a choice.

"As for the Australian team, they want to attack quickly, finish the game early, let them try it," said Park.

Yesterday, all members of the Vietnamese team had negative test results for COVID-19 and are ready for the game.

On the Australian side, head coach Graham Arnold won’t attend the match because he tested positive for COVID-19. Assistant Rene Meulensteen feels that although Australia will likely dominate the game, they must be patient.

The match between Việt Nam and Australia kicks off at 4.10pm. Four days later, Việt Nam will face China at Mỹ Đình National Stadium in Hà Nội. VNS