HANOI: Vietnam’s experienced striker, Nguyen Anh Duc has advised his younger teammates to overcome the pressure ahead of the second-leg of the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup finals against Malaysia at the My Dinh Stadium today.
Anh Duc, who was an unused substitute in the first-leg played at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday, added that it was unfair to criticise young forward Ha Duc Chinch after the latter failed to finish some scoring opportunities, as there was still another half to be played on home ground.
“Because this is the final match, all players feel stressed, especially in an away match and I saw that after the game there was a lot of media and other comments about certain mistakes or chances missed by the strikers.
“As an older player it was my responsibility to help them and I told the other young strikers not to think so much about the past. That match is already finished, and now we need to think about this second match tomorrow,” he said during a pre-match press conference here, yesterday.
The veteran has already scored three goals for his country in this campaign, and stated that he was ready to play if required by coach Park Hang-seo.
“I didn’t play in the first leg for tactical reasons from the coach, but even from the bench I could sense the excitement of the game in Malaysia. If I have the chance to play, I’ll do my best and all that I can with my teammates to make sure that we are the champions.
“We know that this match is different from what we faced in the group stage against Malaysia and Malaysia need to score so they’ll play with a high motivation and spirit and so we need to make sure that we give them a lot of pressure,” he said.
Malaysia and Vietnam drew 2-2 in the first-leg of the finals on Dec 11. – Bernama
