HANOI (21 Nov 2014) – Tohisya Miura, the head coach of hosts Vietnam, feels no pressure ahead of the team’s clash against Indonesia as David Booth will be out for an upset when they take on the Philippines in the first matchday of the AFF Suzuki Cup tomorrow.
Group A opening matches of the AFF Suzuki Cup will see Laos playing the Philippines in the first game before the Vietnam-Indonesia clash later in the evening.
Miura said that the team has been preparing well over the course of the last several months and he is looking for the right opening game.
“There are high expectations from the players but I feel no pressure from the fans or from any quarter,” said Miura.
“The first match is always important, so we have to look to get a good start.”
Indonesian coach Alfred Riedl who had spent some six years in Vietnam previously, was only too glad to be back.
“I’m glad to be back of course but I never have had such a difficult preparation for a tournament,” added the Austrian.
On the other hand Booth, who had led Laos to a place in the final round of the AFF Suzuki Cup, will be looking to serve more than an upset in the tournament this year.
“We want to justify our coming into this competition and it is for that reason, we hope that we can at least create more than an upset,” added Booth.
“Games against Laos can probably be considered as the easiest but we would want to make it difficult for any team that play against us.”
Philippines head coach Thomas Dooley warned his players against taking things easy regardless of their current standings as the highest ranked team in FIFA.
“The ranking is not a true reflection of reality,” added Dooley. “But I told the players that they have to be careful and not approach any matches based on rankings. That will be a mistake.
“I’m looking just for the first match tomorrow, anything else is not important at this point in time.”
