Saudi Arabia coach: ‘Vietnam promises to be difficult to play’

“The next match, Saudi Arabia meets Vietnam. I have not seen this opponent play, but it promises to be difficult to play because no team is weak when they come to this playground and pass the group stage,” said coach Al-Shehri. answer VnExpress after beat UAE 2-0 in the last turn of Group D on the evening of June 9.

Before the ball rolled, Saudi Arabia was at the top of the table thanks to the goal difference over Japan, despite the same four points. Al-Shehri’s army also knows that two opponents can clash in the quarterfinals according to the division, because Group C ended on June 8 with Korea first, and Vietnam. second place in the table.

And with the victory over the UAE, Saudi Arabia secured the first place, meeting Vietnam in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Japan – the team that won Tajikistan 3-0 in the match at the same time – finished second in the group and will compete for a ticket to the semi-finals with South Korea.

“I would like to emphasize that Saudi Arabia does not intend to choose to meet Vietnam or Korea in the quarterfinals. Today, the Korean coach came to watch us play, and now he will have to watch the video tape of the Japanese match. Ban. I have not seen Vietnam play at this U23 tournament, nor do I know anything about them, but we still have time and will analyze this opponent carefully,” added the 42-year-old coach.

On the Lokomotiv field, Saudi Arabia dominated but had to wait until the second half to defeat the UAE, thanks to the goals of the defenders. Yahya Ahmed shot the ball alive to open the scoring in the 57th minute, before VAR brought a penalty for captain captain Saud Abdulhamid to determine the result in injury time.

Coach Al-Shehri admits this is a difficult match, because both Saudi Arabia and the UAE still have the opportunity to continue. He was not satisfied because his students missed many opportunities to eat at the table. “In football, it’s important to take your chances. Today we didn’t do that well,” said Al-Shehri.

The victory over the UAE also made Saudi Arabia pay the price by losing two pillars when it met Vietnam on August 12. Captain Abdulhamid and midfielder Ibrahim Mahnashi received enough yellow cards in the group stage, so they were suspended in the quarterfinals. However, Al-Shehri was not worried. “The important thing is how the rest of the players recover. As long as they recover well, the team will play well. My team has many other quality players, and I believe we can beat any opponent. which,” he said.

This military leader also added that Saudi Arabia only registered 21 players, instead of the maximum 23. And since the tournament rules allow teams to add players after the group stage, Al-Shehri will use this right to call up two more players.

Before the final round in Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia all participated in the previous four rounds, with the best achievement being second in 2016 and 2020. Al-Shehri’s team is therefore expected to help Saudi Arabia realize it. dream championship this year. “We have big goals for this tournament, but the team just tries to handle it game by game,” he said of the Cup chances.

Lam Tho (from Tashkent)