Coach Polking: 'Thailand must fight with fire against Vietnam'
* Vietnam - Thailand: 19:30 tomorrow 13/1, on MetaSports.
"Vietnam plays very passionately. Thailand also has to play like that in the final. But the important thing is that the two teams will only be bloody in the match, not off the field. Thailand played well in the semi-finals and had experience. We have to be ready to fight them," Mr. Polking said on January 11.
The Thai coach highly appreciates the quality of Vietnam's defense by not conceding a goal at the 2022 AFF Cup. Polking also emphasized that his players must make their best efforts to get good results before going home.
Thailand lost 0-1 in the semi-final first leg at the Malaysian stadium before winning 3-0 in the second leg to continue at the AFF Cup 2022. Meanwhile, Vietnam drew 0-0 at Indonesia in the first leg semi-final. , then won 2-0 when returning to My Dinh to enter the final and extend the clean sheet from the beginning of the tournament.
Vietnam and Thailand will play the first leg of the final on January 13 at My Dinh Stadium, and then play the second leg at Thammasat Stadium three days later.
"The first leg is very important. Our goal is to play well and score goals as a guest of Vietnam. Everyone knows how great Thai fans are. They came to the field, cheered enthusiastically and helped us. I won the semi-finals in the second leg. If I get a favorable result in Vietnam, when I return to my home ground and play with the support of the fans, everything will be very favorable," added Coach Polking.
The difficulty with Thailand is that they can lose Teerasil Dangda - who is leading the list of top scorers of the AFF Cup 2022 with 6 goals. The 34-year-old striker injured his hamstring in the semi-final second leg and is racing against time to kick tomorrow 13/1. "The whole team is ready, except for Teerasil. We are carefully checking and assessing his progress on a daily basis," coach Polking said.
The surface of My Dinh yard is not beautiful, which may affect Thailand's play, is one of the media concerns of this country. But Mr. Polking thinks otherwise. He said: "When working in the V-League, I have been to My Dinh. The pitch is not as bad as it is on TV. Of course, the surface is not beautiful, but it is not too bad to play."
Coach Polking used to lead Ho Chi Minh City at the V-League 2021. However, contrary to the expectation of competing for the championship, this club fell to the relegation race group. The military leader with dual German and Brazilian citizenship broke up early when the tournament was stopped because of Covid-19.
Mr. Polking then signed a 6-month contract to lead the Thai team to succeed the sacked coach Nishino. After helping the team win the AFF Cup 2020, he was given a contract extension. On the way to conquering that title, Thailand defeated Vietnam 2-0 in the semi-finals. However, coach Polking later also lost to Coach Park Hang-seo when they clashed at the 31st SEA Games.
