After a day of rest, the Vietnamese men's team went back to training at the Sultan Bin Zayed Stadium on Thursday, leaving the defeat against Iraq behind to focus on the next game with Iran, the strongest team in group D.
Physical trainer Willander Fonseca (in yellow) divided the team into two groups for many warm-up exercises.
Coach Park said at the post Iraq match interview that the team will have to practice more on dealing with set pieces, as
Vietnam conceded a goal from a free kick in the last minute, which cost them the match. Accordingly, set piece excercise was deployed during the training.
He had the simulated fence set up and told the players to communicate better to avoid blocking the goalkeeper's vision.
After the loss against Iraq, several people commented that goalkeeper Dang Van Lam positioned himself wrongly for the free kick that resulted in the loss. On the training ground, the Russian-born goalkeeper showed his skills by saving a lot of free kicks.
Going up against a strong opponent like Iran, the players were trained in defense moves.
Nguyen Xuan Truong (L) and Nguyen Phong Hong Duy started for Vietnam in Iraq, but against Iran, who have much stronger players, there is speculation that Park might bench them.
According to the players, coach Park has watched and analyzed many videos of Iran's games and discussed counter tactics with them.
The game will start at 6 p.m. Saturday (Hanoi time) at Al-Nahyan Stadium, UAE, and will be reported live.
Anh Khoa
