LESS PRESSURE PLEASE: CALISTO

He said that while Vietnam aspire to be a powerhouse of Asean in the near future, their fanatical fans and the media have to change their mindset and refrain from putting a lot of pressure on the national team.

“They only care about winning – it does not matter who we win against,” quipped Calisto (pic).

“This is the challenge which I’m facing now where I need to mould the individual strnegth of the players to make them an efective unit when they play together in the international arena.

“We played several matches against some strong teams like Singapore, DPR Korea and Thailand. We even held DPR Korea to a draw but I think even that is not good enough.”

It would seem that the defeat the Vietnam national team suffered at the hands of Indonesia (1-0 loss), China Olympic team (3-2) and then Brazil Olympic team (2-0) and a Korean University team (1-0) was unforgiveable.

“It is true that we lost those matches but it was against stronger teams. I would rather take on tough teams than play against weaker ones just to win matches. It is not the right way to improve,” said Calisto, who will have just six or seven players from the last tournament for the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008 next month.

For the record, Vietnam are in Group B of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008 which will be based in Bangkok where they will be up against hosts Thailand, Malaysia and Laos.

“The squad has been making tremendous improvements and it is not impossible for them to win the championship although it will be a tough task,” he added.