At the press conference after the opening match of the 33rd SEA Games, coach Ha Hyeok-jun said he was satisfied with the competitive spirit of U22 Laos even though the team did not achieve the desired results. The Korean coach affirmed that his students followed the set plan and played hard throughout the match.
"Our players have prepared very hard and played according to the plan. However, in reality, we still have about 2% left to get better results. However, I would like to thank the players for playing with all their might and dedication throughout the match," he said.
Regarding the controversial situation that led to Dinh Bac's goal, coach Ha Hyeok-jun said he still does not understand why this goal was recognized: "I do not understand why that goal was recognized. However, in football, we still have to respect the final decision of the referee on the field".
The situation happened when Dinh Bac finished scoring, while Quoc Viet stood in a position of not participating in the ball and actively avoided the ball. Initially, the linesman refused to recognize the goal, but after about 3 minutes of discussion and reaction from the U22 Vietnam side, the main referee changed his decision and gave coach Kim Sang-sik's team a 2-1 lead.
Overall assessment of the match, coach Ha commented that U22 Vietnam still showed their familiar identity: "The Vietnam team does not have a big difference. Vietnam is a team with a good playing strategy. The first time we have also focused more on preparing more carefully, but Vietnam is still a strong team".
Looking forward to the match against U22 Malaysia, he said that the team will keep the same training plan and focus on optimizing physical strength: "We have no special changes in the preparation stage. The team will still maintain regular training, focusing on recovering their physical strength to be ready to enter the match against Malaysia, similar to what we did against Vietnam".
The 2-1 victory helped U22 Vietnam temporarily lead Group B and create an advantage before the next matches.
