In the afternoon of January 30, the Vietnamese futsal team had a training session to prepare for this match in a comfortable atmosphere. Due to the dense schedule with a density of two matches per day, the coaching staff proactively reduced the intensity to help players recover their fitness. The content of the training session mainly revolved around warm-up exercises, light exercises and maintaining ball feel.
Previously, in the morning of the same day, the whole team conducted recovery exercises at the pool and gym. This is a plan built by the coaching staff to ensure the best physical condition for the players in the key stage of the tournament.
The match between the Vietnam futsal team and the Thailand futsal team will take place on January 31. This is a match that has the meaning of determining the top team of Group B. Towards this match, coach Diego Giustozzi focuses on deploying tactical plans to limit the opponent's attacking power, and at the same time calculate appropriate personnel plans to preserve forces for the quarter-finals.
Before the match, coach Diego Giustozzi highly appreciated the strength of the Golden Temple team when saying: "This will definitely be a very difficult match. They have changed coaches and now have a new coaching staff.
Thailand's playing style is similar to many teams in the Thai national championship when playing with high intensity and leaning towards direct attacks. Previously, when training the Spanish coach (Rodrigo Miguel), they played with more ball control, calm and leaning towards horizontality.
Thailand is one of the big teams in Asian futsal, which has been proven by history and previous head-to-head results.
However, coach Diego Giustozzi affirmed his belief in his players when emphasizing: "I have faith in the players. We have completed the goal of passing the group stage, so the pressure has been relieved. Our squad is still very young, many players are participating in a continental tournament of the AFC for the first time.
At this time, the whole team will enter the match with a more comfortable mentality, enjoy the match and aim for the goal of winning to top the group. Thailand will definitely prepare very carefully to limit us, and we will also have similar preparations to block them.
Sharing about further goals, coach Diego Giustozzi said: "My next goal is to bring the team to the semi-finals. I understand that is very difficult, because the level between teams in Asia today is no longer too disparate. We are a new team, and the long-term goal is to win the right to participate in the next World Cup.
However, I believe that the team is having a good balance, especially in midfield, and can maintain concentration for 40 minutes. With that, we are fully capable of competing and defeating strong teams in Asia”.
In the quarter-finals, the Vietnam futsal team will face Indonesia or Iraq. When asked about the desired opponent, coach Diego Giustozzi expressed his opinion: "The two teams have very different styles. Iraq possesses players with good physique, technique and high strength. Indonesia plays quite similarly to us, focusing on speed, intensity and direct play.
Currently, Indonesia is a very strong team in Asia and they will play in front of about 15,000 home fans. Therefore, if given a choice, I prefer to meet Iraq, not because of the quality of the team, because the two teams are equivalent, but because playing in front of about 1,000 fans will be more favorable than the enthusiastic atmosphere if playing Indonesia”.
