Ukrainian Vietnamese goalkeeper Dinh Hoang La is expected to play for the national team in the friendly against Greek club Olympiakos on Thursday

National coach Henrique Calisto expressed his anger in no uncertain terms Monday as his players were given a substandard ground to practice for their friendly match against Greek club Olympiakos on Thursday.

The My Dinh Sport Complex provided the team with a second-class field - not the main field; and Calisto said it was too bad for the players to get the needed practice.

“The team has only six training sessions before the match with Olympiakos, and just two of the sessions are major ones. That is not enough. Why don’t they create good opportunities for us?

“The My Dinh Sports Complex belongs to the nation; the My Dinh Stadium belongs to the nation; the team is the national team. Why don’t they get the best possible conditions?”

The Portuguese tactician, known for his temper, pointed to the field as he continued: “Look at the field. It is very rough and hard for the players to practice their skills because the ball bounces too much. It’s very dangerous to practice on such a field because players can suffer injuries at any time.

“It’s strange some amateur teams can come and rent good fields here to practice on.”

Calisto said leading clubs have tried hard to arrange to have their favorite players join the national team, but he was surprised that football authorities were not uneasy that the national team was practicing on a bad field.

“I am not speaking for myself. I am speaking for the good of the national team. I will meet the manager of the My Dinh Stadium to talk about it. Why do they do this to the national team?”

Player worries

Calisto is also not happy with some of the players.

“Their sportsmanship and efforts are fine but they need more time to be together. Some players don’t have very good ideas about strategies.”

Right after the first session, Calisto spoke to the players, “You shouldn’t think football needs just muscles. It needs your brain, too.

“Just imagine you are riding a motorbike and you see a wall in front, but you just go ahead anyway. The result would be injury.

“You should use your head to control your legs and you must communicate with your teammates all the time. You can’t keep silent.

“I had to shout all the time because some players were “sleeping” on the field. Football needs speed. If football could be played slowly, Maradona could play now.

He wanted the players to remember that Olympiakos was a very strong team even if some of their top players do not turn up.

“Playing against such a rival, you must run to your half of the field immediately when you lose control of the ball,” he told the team.

Some reporters asked the coaching staff to compare the goalkeepers called up this time with the best player of the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup and the 2008 Golden Ball winner Duong Hong Son.

Assistant coach Tran Van Khanh said, “Each player has his own strength. In the team now, Dinh Hoang La of Ninh Binh and Tan Truong of Dong Thap are pretty tall players. Hoang La is particularly skillful as he was trained in Ukraine, a country famous for producing good goalkeepers.”

Reported by Lan Phuong