Sports / Off the Field
Vietnam's Riedl peeved at training ground gate-crashers
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-16 09:42
HANOI, July 15 - Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl reprimanded local reporters
on Sunday for sneaking into a closed training session on the eve of their
Asian Cup clash with Japan.
The co-hosts were seeking some privacy after switching venues in Hanoi,
but even a lock-out failed to stop several intrepid Vietnamese
journalists finding a way in.
"A few of them sneaked in," Riedl told Reuters. "It's typical. You see
the way they are on the streets here. It's like that. They're like the
traffic!
"My driver told me he saw some journalists inside the stadium. I would
have let them in but if you let one in you suddenly get a stampede!"
The Austrian wrote off his team's chances of producing arguably the
biggest shock in Asian Cup history in their final Group B game on Monday.
"My style of coaching is to play attacking football and hopefully we can
catch them on the counter-attack," Riedl said.
"But we will be defending 70 percent of the time. We need to be careful
about everything tomorrow. Japan are honestly too good for us."
Vietnam, playing in the Asian Cup for the first time in 47 years, have
already surpassed expectations with four points from two games, only
trailing group leaders Japan on goal difference.
Realistically, however, their hopes of advancing rest on whether United
Arab Emirates can take avoid their third straight defeat against Qatar in
the other Group B game in Ho Chi Minh.
"If we don't reach the quarter-finals it is already a big achievement for
Vietnamese football," Riedl added. "But obviously I would like to see a
draw in the south (Ho Chi Minh)."
The 47-year-old stated that respectability was his top priority in
Monday's game.
"We don't want to get thrashed or lose too badly," he said. "It is not
logical to play with three or four attackers against Japan.
"I've never seen a team as good as Japan in the Asian Cup. I'm not
thinking about pulling off a miracle!"
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