VietNamNet Bridge
– Vietnam and Malaysia
will be face to face in the first semi-final game of the ASEAN Football Cup
2010 (AFF Cup) at 7 pm today, December 15. Both coaches expressed their respect
to each other and their confidence in their teams.

At the press conference in Kuala Lumpur
one day before the game, Vietnam’s
coach Henrique Calisto said his side has carefully drilled for the first-leg
semifinal clash despite the absence of four key players due to injuries,
including Quang Thanh, Tai Em, Trong Hoang and Viet Cuong.

“Without defenders Viet Cuong and Quang Thanh and
midfielders Trong Hoang and Tai Em, we can’t introduce our strongest line-up
for this important game. There will be changes in the Vietnam’s tactics during the first-leg semifinal
match with Malaysia,”
he said.

The coach made many changes during training in the last
couples of days.

According to Calisto, Minh Phuong will replace Tai Em in the
midfield to pair with Thanh Hung in the center while Dinh Dong is set to fill
in the left-back of Viet Cuong and Huy Hoang may replace Quang Thanh on the
right-back position.

He said the Malaysian team now is very different from the
Malaysian team at the AFF Cup 2008.

“They now have a new coach and new playing style. Rajagobal
is a good coach and we met each other one year ago in Laos, at the Southeast Asian
Games,” the coach said.

Guessing the playing style of Malaysia, Calisto said: “They may
attack at the beginning to promote their advantage of playing on their home
land. Besides, they can’t resort to defense as they still have a second-leg
game in Hanoi.
I guess Malaysians may also apply a tough style of playing to neutralize short
passes of Vietnam
and leave no space for the us.”

“I know Malaysia
also face injuries but I don’t care much about that. My biggest concern now is
to introduce our best team possible,” he said.

Malaysia’s
coach Rajagobal said: “We have experienced tough matches in the qualifier
round. Some players are injured but it is not an issue to worry about. Vietnam
has many good players, who are more experienced than ours”.

The coach praised Vietnam’s
fast attacks and he said Malaysia
will win 1-0 or 2-0.

PV