VAN PHUONG WANTS THE THREE POINTS; GREATWICH LOOKS FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE

Vietnam will take on the Philippines in the second match of the second match day of Group B of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 tomorrow evening at the My Dinh National Stadium.

Minh Phuong, who scored one goal in their 7-1 demolition of Myanmar in their first match two days ago, said that it is far more important to win than to set scoring goals.

“I’m just looking at winning the points. It does not really matter whether I score or do not score in the game. I just want the three points and that collectively, we win as a team,” said Minh Phuong.

“But it will be tough against the Philippines as from their first match, you can see that they have physically better players and they will be tough to crack.”

Added Vietnam national coach Henrique Calisto: “forget the big win over Myanmar. We are playing against a different team, a different coach, a different situation and different everything. So our approach will also have to be different. There will not be any special preparation although we must always look to improve and improve. Only the museum can live with the past.”

In the meantime, after scoring what was their best ever results against former champions Singapore two days ago, the Philippines will be hoping that they can deliver the same to the hosts.

Greatwich, who scored the equalizing goal in their 1-1 draw against Singapore, said that it was their best result as a team in six years.

“There was definitely euphoria after the draw against Singapore. And I truly believe that we are progressively getter better,” said Greatwich.

“The possibility of being better is always viable and I believe that at the moment, we can compete with the best teams in the region at this level. So now, it is important that we remain focus and get the result that we want against Vietnam.”

Added Simon McMenemy, the chief coach of the Philippines: “a few of the players are not at 100%, so we will see whether we can put up the best for tomorrow. For me, whatever happens tomorrow is not important as long are competitive and show that we are hard to beat. It is already an honour to play at this level when considering that back home we do not get a lot of support for anything.”

AFF SUZUKI CUP 2010, FINAL ROUND RESULTS and FIXTURES

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

1 Dec THAILAND 2 LAOS 2/ INDONESIA 5 MALAYSIA 1

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 1 PHILIPPINES 1/ VIETNAM 7 MYANMAR 1

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)