CALISTO: DEFENDING THE CROWN WILL BE TOUGH

Vietnam chief coach Henrique Calisto admitted at the pre-match press conference this afternoon in Hanoii that it is much harder to defend the AFF Suzuki Cup crown than to win it.

“Two years ago, we were a little bit lucky as when we beat Singapore in the semi-finals, Thailand thought that they will have it easier in the final. But we proved them wrong and we won the crown for the first time,” said Henrique.

“But this time round, all teams know the strength and weakness of our team and they would have studied our game well. So it will be much harder to defend the crown than to win it.

“For us, we have stressed the importance of taking it one game at a time. We are not even thinking of the second match or the last group encounter against Singapore. Teams like the Philippines – our opponent tomorrow – and also Myanmar will be more relaxed for the match as the expectation is that we can beat them. So in no way must we underestimate them.”

Radojko Avramovic, the chief coach of Singapore agreed with the opinion of Calisto that defending the title will be a lot harder.

“When we won the title for the first time, we were always under pressure and while were successful in defending the crown, we lost it the year after. The pressure was immense,” added Avramovic.

“For us, several of the young players have been playing together for quite some time, so they should be prepared for the challenge ahead.

“And while no one is paying any respects to the Philippines and Myanmar, I think that it is wrong to think that they could not pose much of a challenge. They are quite capable as otherwise they will not be here.”

Myanmar coach Tin Myint Aung on the other hand said that they are in a tough group and that they have little by way of expectations on how they will fare.

“Vietnam and Singapore are strong teams for sure while for us we had limited preparation time. We only played two games so we cannot know what to expect until after we played our first game,” Myint Aung said.

“I don’t want to assess the strength of Singapore or Vietnam as everyone knows that they are tough to play against.

“I just want to concentrate on our game and hope that we can get the result we want. How far we can go, we can think about that later.”

The chief coach of the Philippines Simon McMenemy was a lot more subdued at the conference where just like Myanmar, they are looking at strategizing on their own rather than to think of the strength of their opponents in the first game.

“We just have to raise the level of out game,” said McMemeny.

“We have to think beyond the qualifiers and while we are in a very tough group, I hope that we can deliver some surprises along the way.

“Nothing is impossible in football and I hope that we can come together as a team tomorrow and show what we are capable of.”

AFF SUZUKI CUP 2010, FINAL ROUND FIXTURES

Group A – Jakarta, Indonesia (GELORA BUNG KARNO STADIUM, JAKARTA)

1 Dec Thailand vs Laos (1700hrs) / Indonesia vs Malaysia (1930hrs)

4 Dec Thailand vs Malaysia (1700hrs) / Laos vs Indonesia (1930hrs)

7 Dec Malaysia vs Laos (1930hrs at Jakabaring Stadium, Palembang) / Indonesia vs Thailand (1930hrs at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Hanoi)

Group B – Hanoi, Vietnam (MY DINH NATIONAL STADIUM, HANOI)

2 Dec Singapore vs Philippines (1700hrs) / Vietnam vs Myanmar (1930hrs)

5 Dec Singapore vs Myanmar (1700hrs) / Philippines vs Vietnam (1930hrs)

8 Dec Myanmar vs Philippines (1930hrs at Hien Truong Stadium, Nam Dinh) / Vietnam vs Singapore (1930hrs at My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi)