Coach Diego Giustozzi wants Vietnamese futsal players to understand that despite losing to Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship, the team still has two more matches ahead to compete for tickets to the 2024 Futsal World Cup.
“After this match, the first thing I want the players to know is that the tournament is not completely over for the team yet. We still have two matches ahead, which is an opportunity for everyone to win a ticket to the 2024 Futsal World Cup,” coach Giustozzi shared at the press conference after the 1-2 loss to Uzbekistan late on the evening of April 24. .
Although Nguyen Thinh Phat gave the Vietnamese futsal team the lead after the first half ended. But unfortunately, errors in the defense system caused Giustozzi and his team to concede 2 goals in the last 7 minutes of the match, thereby failing in their goal of competing for medals on the continental playground. However, Pham Duc Hoa and his teammates continue to compete for the final ticket to the 2024 Futsal World Cup through the play-off round. If they win 2 matches in this round, the whole team will officially win a ticket to the world playground.
According to the match schedule, the Vietnamese futsal team will meet Kyrgyzstan in the first play-off match taking place at 4:00 p.m. April 26. The representative from Central Asia received a 1-6 loss to Iran in quarter-final 2. Coach Giustozzi pointed out the opponent’s advantage of having more than 5 hours to recover physically after the defeat in the quarter-finals.
“The most important thing to prepare for the next match is how to best recover for all players both physically and mentally. Kyrgyzstan, our upcoming opponent, has played the quarterfinal match since 4:00 p.m., while the Vietnamese futsal team takes the field at 9:00 p.m. So they have somewhat more time to recover and rest than us. I want the whole team to understand that today everyone did very well against a strong opponent like Uzbekistan, a futsal team that regularly goes to the Futsal World Cup and participates in continental finals. My students tried and worked hard to complete the task. I am satisfied with the whole team’s performance,” the Argentine coach emphasized.
Returning to the defeat of the Vietnamese futsal team against Uzbekistan, this was a match in which goalkeeper Elmurodov Abbos on the Uzbekistan side actively advanced to join his teammates to create 5 players to participate in the attack.
Coach Giustozzi defends the view that he wants situations where 4 players from both sides play against each other to create fairness. “I am not the one who dictates the rules of futsal,” he said. The rules of the game do not prohibit the goalkeeper from rising high to participate in the attack. So I can’t change anything. I came to Vietnam to help the players somehow adapt to opponents with such unpleasant playing styles. Personally, I still like 4×4, 5 against 4 as a show of the team rising up to attack.”
The Argentine coach also added that when using the 4v4 style of play, the Vietnamese futsal team completely controlled the match, creating more advantages over the opponent. If the players did better in the first half, they could have made a difference in the score. In the second half, every time Uzbekistan had the ball, the opponent used a 5-man style of play when attacking. However, Duc Hoa and his teammates still somewhat controlled the situation.
HUU THANH (from Bangkok)
Tags: Coach Giustozzi Vietnamese Futsal wins qualifying World Cup
