Alkass Digital
Head coach Philippe Troussier believes his Vietnam side has shown a lot of improvement despite being eliminated from the group stage of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ ahead of their final Group D game against Iraq on Wednesday.
The Golden Star Warriors go into the match at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium with no points to their name, having fallen to a 4-2 defeat against Japan before being edged 1-0 by Indonesia in the second match; a result which meant even a win against the Lions of Mesopotamia cannot take them out of fourth place.
“Before our game against Iraq, we are already out of the competition on head-to-head. It is a pity, but that is what it is,” said Troussier.
“We have two main motivations; one is to respect and honour our flag and our nation and present a good image of Vietnamese football against Iraq, and the other is that we have in the near future a big challenge, which is the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 where we have two important matches against Indonesia home and away in March, and this match is a great opportunity to prepare for these two games."
“Even though we lost both games, I can see a lot of improvement especially in maturity in terms of control of the ball and not being afraid. Against Indonesia I saw a great character that my players don’t give up, and that is a spirit we need tomorrow again.
“When the Vietnam Football Federation hired me, it was during the World Cup qualifiers when Vietnam lost eight games in a row against the top teams in Asia. The target is to implement a new strategy to face the top 10 teams in the continent and that’s why I’m here now.
"We have to change the mentality of the players, we have to select players who are not afraid to control the ball and face big teams. We are in this process, but unfortunately, the Asian Cup came too early for us.”
For Iraq, the match presents an opportunity to end the group stage with the full nine points for the first time in their history and to secure the top spot ahead of Japan, but head coach Jesus Casas also sees it as an opportunity to continue improving.
The Lions of Mesopotamia started their journey with a 3-1 victory over Indonesia, before stunning Japan 2-1 in the second match to book their place in the Round of 16.
“When you are on the field, all players want to win, that includes both teams, so it will be a difficult game for sure,” said Casas.
“I think it is an important match. Regardless of the fact we are already qualified, all matches are important for us because we can improve each time. We need to show our best performance and best style. In football, all teams want to win. Vietnam will want to win too."
“My players are intelligent. They know it was an important victory for them and for the Iraqi people, but we know that is in the past already. The focus now is about Vietnam. They know if a player is still thinking about Japan or any other match, they will not play with me.
“It’s normal that the fans are thinking about our last big victory in 2007, but this is a different tournament and a difficult one. There are a lot of big teams like Japan, (Islamic Republic of) Iran and Korea Republic who are all favourites, but all we can do is fight to win.”
“It is true that Vietnam lost their first two matches, but I was in the stadium for their game against Japan and they were very close to getting a positive result. Tomorrow it will be a very hard match for sure.”
Iraq v Vietnam
Venue: Jassim bin Hamad Stadium (Doha)
Kick-off: 14:30 (UTC+3)