Vietnam's coach Park reunites with ex-boss Hiddink for China friendly

By Lam Thoa   September 7, 2019 | 10:41 pm PT
Vietnam's coach Park reunites with ex-boss Hiddink for China friendly
Coach Park Hang-seo (L) with his former boss Guus Hiddink during a press conference before the friendly match between Vietnam and China's U22 teams, September 7, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Thoa.
Coach Park Hang-seo is excited about confronting his former boss Guus Hiddink in a friendly between the Vietnamese and Chinese U22 teams this Sunday.

The match kicks off at 5 p.m. at the Huangshi Olympic Sports Center in China’s Hubei Province.

The Vietnamese coach said at a press conference in China on Saturday: "The match means a lot to me. I will again meet Hiddink, under whom I used to work as an assistant in the South Korean team. This time I and he are coaches leading two different teams. The match will be very interesting."

Dutchman Hiddink is well known for taking South Korea to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, arguably the greatest feat in Asian football history.

Park, a Korean, was Hiddink’s assistant during the event.

"I understand Hiddink because I have had time to work with him," he said.

Hiddink also expressed happiness about meeting Park again.

"I am proud of him," he said of Park's success with Vietnam.

Hiddink earlier led teams like Real Madrid, Chelsea and Valencia in club football and the national teams of Russia, Turkey, Australia, and the Netherlands before coming to China last year to manage the U21 and U23 teams.

But Park admitted he did not have much information about the Chinese team: "I only know they played a friendly match against North Korea two days ago and drew 1-1."

He said he was not too worried about things like tactics in the match since he only wanted to check the players’ ability and how they fared against opponents who were fitter than them.

 
 
go to top