On the afternoon of October 8, at Binh Duong Stadium (Thu Dau Mot Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), coach Kim Sang-sik attended a press conference before the match with the Nepal team in the third match of Group F of the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup.
At the beginning of the press conference, coach Kim Sang-sik shared about the goals of the Vietnam team when facing Nepal. He said: " Tomorrow is the third match in the Asian Cup qualifiers, the Vietnamese team will play at home, so we and the players will not hesitate. Our goal is to move up and get all 3 points. I hope the fans will come to the stadium to accompany the players. We will try to perform as well as possible.
First of all, the goal of the next 2 matches is to win all 6 points. That is the only goal. Through the video analysis process, we found that the Nepal team has two dangerous players and needs to be blocked, number 7 and number 14. In fact, what we need to do is prepare tactics, focus on our tactics, not pay much attention to the opponent".
In recent days, information about the penalty of the Vietnam Football Federation has received great attention. On this issue, coach Kim Sang-sik expressed his opinion: "I think this issue should be left for FIFA to work on. No matter what the final result is, I still respect FIFA's decision. In fact, this is not the main problem. We need to focus on winning against Nepal rather than paying attention to that issue".
When asked about the ability to use U23 players in the match against Nepal, coach Kim Sang-sik replied: "I would like to keep this a secret. The coaching staff and I are trying to help the two generations of players play together to have the best performance. The young players of Vietnam are very talented and a launching pad for future development".
Coach Kim Sang-sik expressed regret that midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai was injured and absent from this training session. He also shared more about the injury situation of Duc Chien and Bui Tien Dung.
"I feel sorry that Quang Hai is absent due to injury. He has good playing skills, especially his left foot is very skillful. In addition, Quang Hai can also take a free kick and pass the ball causing a breakthrough. Such a lack of personnel makes us feel very regretful. But I believe Hoang Duc and Thanh Long will play well. I hope Quang Hai will recover soon.
Duc Chien and Bui Tien Dung both have muscle strain and are recovering. I am also thinking about how to use personnel appropriately," coach Kim Sang-sik added.
The match between Vietnam and Nepal will take place at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow (October 9). After that, the two teams will play again in the second leg on October 14 at Thong Nhat Stadium.
In this training session, center back Duy Manh was trusted by the coaching staff to be the captain of the Vietnam national team. The two vice-captains include midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc and Cao Pendant Quang Vinh.
