After Japan's 4-2 victory in the opening match of the 2023 Asian Cup, many players of the Japanese team praised the Vietnamese team.
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| Japanese players highly appreciated the performance of the Vietnamese team. (Source: Reuters) |
The Vietnamese team surprised everyone when they scored 2 goals by Dinh Bac and Tuan Hai against Japan, the number 1 candidate for the 2023 Asian Cup championship.
Despite losing 2-4 to the "Blue Samurai", coach Philippe Troussier and his team received a lot of praise, including "winged" words from the stars of the Japanese team.
Takefusa Kubo, who entered the field in the second half, commented: “The Vietnamese team showed enthusiasm, not only was their spirit good but their tactics were also very good. I was overwhelmed watching. They controlled the ball really well.
I don't know how they practice, but their ball control is very reasonable and they can easily resist the Japanese team's pressure."
“I really want to see how they train. I think the Vietnamese team’s ball control skills can be among the top in Asia,” Kubo added.
Transfermarkt rates Takefusa Kubo of the Japanese national team as the most valuable player. The value of the Real Sociedad player has just increased to 60 million Euros, equal to Kim Min Jae of Korea and Bayern Munich.
Japan's double-scoring player Takumi Minamino said: "We all knew Vietnam was strong and they played a very good match. I had to compete not only with the Vietnamese defense, but also stop their attack from advancing. I didn't expect Vietnam to be so good."
Midfielder Hidemasa Morita praised the “Golden Star Warriors”: "I think the Vietnamese team is a strong team and has prepared well for this match. They did not let their guard down and we had to face an equal opponent, which led to a difficult situation."
Meanwhile, Mao Hosoya was surprised by the boys in red, he exclaimed: "The Vietnamese team is better than what we researched."
“We thought the opposition defence would push up, so before the game we told each other to just pass the ball behind them, but that didn’t work,” said Junya Ito.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Zion Suzuki said: “As I expected, it was a difficult match. Although we won, we conceded two goals and both came from set pieces. So I need to improve. I feel we have to change."
After the opening match of the 2023 Asian Cup, the Vietnamese team will have 5 days off before meeting Indonesia and Japan will face Iraq.
( according to Vietnamnet )
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