Vietnam Cambodia

Vietnamese coach: Vietnam U22 cannot underestimate Cambodia

Vietnam U22 coach Dinh Hong Vinh has returned from a scouting mission in Cambodia to estimate the potential of his team’s rivals in next month’s SEA Games.

Vietnam will face a tough test at the SEA Games in Malaysia next month after being drawn in a six-team Group B, which includes defending champions Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Timor Leste and the Philippines.

Taking the responsibility of spying rivals Cambodia U22, Vinh highly appreciates the level of the Cambodian players and states that his opponents are owning many good players after watching the AFC U22 Championship qualifier between Cambodia and Philippines on 23 July at Olympic Stadium.

“I have to say that in a short time, Cambodia has progressed significantly. They understood each other very well. The team own qualified players and their playing formation were in close accordance with a 4-1-4-1 formation,” the Vietnam coach said, as quoted by Zing.vn.

On the other hand, Vinh emphasized that his assessments are just preliminary because all teams will make progress when SEA Games takes place.

“Cambodia only played in accordance with the formation in the first 30 minutes of the match, after that, the players seemed to play impulsively and did not cooperate with their teammates. As a consequence, the team exposed a lot of weaknesses, especially the blank spaces in the defense and in both wings,” Vinh said.

However, Cambodia U22 are proving to be tough opponents for Vietnam in the upcoming SEA Games, after their impressive performance in the AFC U23 Championship qualifiers.