A draw would be more reasonable: Philippines coach

"Vietnam have a developed football scene, while Philippines are a bit behind. However, if we look at the pressure and the chances created in the second half, a draw would be a more reasonable result. But there’s no 'if' in football," Weiss said during a press conference after the game.

The German coach added that the turning point of the game was Santiago Rublico's miss in the second half. He believed that if Rublico scored, "who knows what would happen to Vietnam in the remaining time."

Philippines entered the game with high pressure and the tempo caused a lot of difficulties for Vietnam. However, the opener of Nguyen Van Toan in the 16th minute helped the visitors play easier for the rest of the first half. But the hosts were far from giving up.

In the second half, they pushed the intensity even higher and created many chances. Vietnam would have conceded if Rubico or Patrick Reichelt were more accurate when facing goalkeeper Dang Van Lam.

Philippines paid the price after wasting multiple chances, as in the very last minute of the game, the substitution Nguyen Dinh Bac sealed the 2-0 victory for Vietnam with a shot from the edge of the box.

"In the last minutes, we hoped that long ball would create something. The team went up higher and revealed space for the opponent to counter attack which led to the second goal. But losing 0-1 or 0-2 is the same," Weiss said and added that he doesn’t blame the players because they had a good performance and gave their best.

However, Weiss was not happy when he talked about the first goal of Vietnam and called it a "silly situation". When a cross is made into the box, several Philippines defenders tried but couldn’t clear the ball and let Toan finish through the legs of Neil Etheridge.

"We could have held Vietnam off longer. It was unfortunate that we conceded from a long ball. Our players failed to clear it a few times. This score of this game should have been 0-0 score after the first half," Weiss added.

At the end of the press conference, Weiss gave his compliments to Vietnam. He said the visitors have a great football system with talented young players and they are approaching the top teams in Asia.

"Vietnam missed six or seven key players in this game but still won. That’s another whole level. Philippines have to accept this defeat," he said.

On Nov. 21, Philippines will play Indonesia while Vietnam face Iraq.

 

 

A draw would be more reasonable: Philippines coach

Philippines 0-2 Việt Nam