VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam team coach Henrique Calisto and his crew arrived home yesterday after a surprise 2-1 defeat over Thailand in the AFF-Suzuki Cup. The thrilling first leg final victory was played at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on Wednesday.

The team received a hero’s welcome at Noi Bai Airport yesterday by the Viet Nam Football Federation and hundreds of cheering fans. (Photo: VNN)

Viet Nam only needs a draw with Thailand on Sunday to take the cup.

Millions of fans from cities and provinces across the nation poured onto the streets to hail the first victory over Thailand in over a decade.

Henrique Calisto, the head coach for Viet Nam, said after the match: “It was a good, high-pressured game. We scored through two good counter-attacks.”

“But we have to realise that we have won nothing yet. There’s still another 90 minutes in Ha Noi. We have to be careful for the next match.”

Calisto, nicknamed the sorcerer for his ability to read games with great accuracy, set up tactical play against powerhouses Thailand in the final and Singapore in the semi-final.

The 55-year-old Portuguese said that confidence is key to helping Viet Nam beat Thailand in the first leg final.

Coach Calisto has an ability to motivate his players to give it their all at training sessions and at major games.

Former national player, Nguyen Van Sy, who was part of the team that took home a bronze medal at the tournament in 2002, said last month that he believed Viet Nam would sail to the final.

“I saw the progress the team made with their offensive play in recent matches. They came out with a good fighting spirit,” he said.

Earlier in the tournament, Calisto, who guided V-League Dong Tam Long An to two straight V-League titles in 2005 and 2006, was criticised by the media for leading the team to 11 defeats since taking the helm in April.

But the criticism did not throw him off kilter for the AFF Cup.

Six years ago, the coach came to Viet Nam with V-League Dong Tam Long An. He soon discovered new talents, like Tran Truong Giang, Trinh Xuan Thanh, Phan Van Tai Em and Nguyen Minh Phuong. Shortly afterwards the team took bronze at Tiger Cup.

He was seen as an innovative coach, adopting new, experimental styles of attack. This departed from the traditional defensive tactics favoured by previous team coaches.

Calisto will be the second foreigner in ten years, after Riedl, to coach Viet Nam’s football team twice.

Since 1996, Viet Nam has parted company with six other foreign coaches: Briton Colin Murphy, German Karl Heinz Weigang, Brazilian Edson Tavares, Austrian Alfred Riedl, Brazilian-born Dutchman Edson Silva Dido, and France’s Letard. None led Viet Nam to the victory podiums at the AFF Cup or the Southeast Asian Games.

According to Calisto, the Vietnamese footballers players were not technically bad. The major problem was a lack of ideas and a poor attitude.

Viet Nam has only beaten Thailand once – in a 3-0 victory at the semi-finals of the ’98 Tiger Cup in Ha Noi. But Viet Nam has yet to win the final. In ’98 they were beaten 1-0 by Singapore.

(Source: Viet Nam News)