Coach Timor Leste announced that he wanted to compete for semi-final tickets with U23 Vietnam, U23 Indonesia

Coach Fabio Magrao confidently believes that Timor Leste U23 players are completely capable of making a big surprise in Group A of men’s football at SEA Games 31.

At noon on 5/5, press conference before matches in Group A men’s football SEA Games 31 took place in Viet Tri city. In addition to the media response of Coach Park Hang Seo of U23 Vietnam or coach Shin Tae Yong of U23 Indonesia, the sharing of coach Fabio Magrao on the side of U23 Timor Leste also attracted the attention of the media.

Coach Fabio Magrao of U23 Timor Leste

U23 Timor Leste is considered the weakest team in Group A, where U23 Vietnam, U23 Indonesia, U23 Myanmar and U23 Philippines are present. However, answering the press about the goal of U23 Timor Leste in the upcoming matches at Viet Tri, coach Fabio Magrao said that his students can completely create a surprise in Group A.

“In football, anything is possible. But it is not easy because U23 Timor Leste is not a strong team like Indonesia or Vietnam. Hopefully we will make more progress. Our biggest opponent is not U23 Vietnam, U23 Indonesia but time.

I suggest that the SEA Games schedule needs to be relaxed, so focus on the quality of the match. Because the players need a break. Because without doing so, Asian football will find it difficult to develop. This is my honest opinion.

I do not think that U23 Indonesia and U23 Vietnam are the two teams that will definitely pass the group stage. Football is on the field. We can totally surprise. In the last 8 matches, we have met Cambodia, Korea, Philippines, Vietnam… we only lost to Korea.

In the semi-finals of the recent Southeast Asian U23 tournament, we only lost to U23 Vietnam in a penalty shootout of luck. We completely believe in the strength of our players. We have the ability to make it to the semi-finals. I am aware that U23 Vietnam, U23 Indonesia are strong teams. But I believe in our strength.

Our biggest rival is time, schedule. The players did not have much time to recover. We play matches at a density of 2 days/match. I worry about the players not recovering in time. There are many people who do not believe that we are not playing well. But I am completely optimistic about the ability of U23 Timor Leste in this year’s tournament,” coach Fabio Magrao shared.

Agreeing with U23 team head coach Timor Leste, coach Norman Salo Fegidero of Philippines U23 said: “I agree that U23 Indonesia and U23 Vietnam are quite strong in this group, but we have improved a lot in recent times. When the matches have not taken place, the chances are still divided equally for all. We still have a lot of chances to get to the next round.”

Coach Velizar Popov of Myanmar U23

While coach Velizar Popov of Myanmar U23 was cautious when asked about the opportunity to win a gold medal in the sport SEA Games men’s football 31 of the home team. He said: “Due to the impact of the epidemic, Myanmar does not have many tournaments taking place. Compared to other teams in the group, my players only played 15 games all year.

Obviously, we have many disadvantages. Through the training process over the past time, my students have improved a lot physically and mentally. Besides, my player mentality is very comfortable because I play without having to defend anything. We go out on the pitch as relaxed as possible and respect our opponents to win every point.”