At the 2023 Asian Cup, VFF General Secretary Duong Nghiep Khoi will take on the role of Head of the Vietnamese team. He said he regularly exchanges and shares with head coach Philippe Troussier.

Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi said that the French coach had many difficulties with the team's injury situation before the tournament. At the same time, Mr. Khoi highly appreciated Mr. Troussier's responsibility and behavior towards his students' injuries, especially through the story of midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc.

" Mr. Troussier is very concerned when players get injured and cannot be used. He told me that he himself does not have the right to abuse injured players, such as Que Ngoc Hai and Hoang Duc, " Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi shared.

" Mr. Troussier kept Hoang Duc until the last day, the last moment. When asking the medical team, the doctors did not confirm that Hoang Duc was fit enough to play in the first two matches. He invited Hoang Duc up. The teacher and student had a happy conversation and said 'I cannot keep you here'. No one outside knew about that ."

Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi assessed that Coach Troussier is kind-hearted when thinking about the future of the players. " I am completely fair in considering. Recently, he has faced great pressure but he is happy that the spirit of Vietnamese players is getting better and better. The players have all fulfilled the requirements of the head coach ," Mr. Khoi explained.

The VFF General Secretary also shared more stories in Qatar. Accordingly, a day before the match with Iraq, Coach Troussier let the players practice longer than expected with midfield exercises. The next day, Quang Hai's goal was reproduced exactly like the team's tactical exercise.

Not only that, the President of the Iraqi Football Federation also praised the performance of the Vietnamese team. Mr. Khoi said that the President was surprised by the rapid progress of the Vietnamese team after 2 months of meeting again and admitted that the Iraqi team won by luck.

Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi said the whole team was very sad after failing to achieve their goal at the Asian Cup. In the next training session, VFF will coordinate with the head coach to achieve the best results in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Van Hai