Thai Son Nam seeking flawless defensive display against fearless Nafit
Ho Chi Minh City: Each time Thai Son Nam FC launched an attack at the Phu Tho Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, the home fans have demonstrated their passion and roaring support. Thursday’s quarter-final against Iraq’s NAFIT Al-Wasat promises to reignite their fervour once more, but head coach Haitham Abbas appeared undaunted by the prospect of facing the deafening atmosphere.
“Many teams here are afraid to face them (Thai Son Nam). From the beginning, we knew that as long as we win all of our group games, there was a high chance we could face them.
“Let me tell you, we are not afraid of them. We are not afraid to face any team in this competition. We respect our opponents, yes but fear, no way,” beamed a confident Abbas.
“We are well prepared and you can see that in our performance. I am very happy with our results and teamwork so far. In fact, I believe if you look at the group stage last year and this year, I think we are playing better this year,” added Abbas, who guided Nafit to the final last year in Bangkok.
Abbas was referring to Nafit’s near perfect record in this year’s edition. The Iraqis have orchestrated an unstoppable campaign, opening the tournament with a convincing 7-2 victory over Tajikistan’s Disi Invest, continuing their impressive run with a 6-3 win against Indonesia’s Vamos FC before sealing an unblemished group stage record when they defeated Qatar’s Al Rayyan 4-2 on Tuesday.
“Yes they have a good team, in particular, Hossein Tayebibidgoli has impressed me. And yes, they have the home support, which will be an advantage, but we have the better team.”
Meanwhile, Thai Son Nam Head Coach Miguel Rodrigo is well aware of the dangers posed by his opponents and has emphasised the importance of maintaining an indestructible defence throughout the forty minutes.
“At the moment, I have to say, they are better than us, to be honest. There is no doubt that they are the main challengers for the title, along with Chonburi. They have some of the best players in the competition, the number seven (Ghodrat Bahadori), thirteen (Farhad Tavakoli) and nine (Waleed Khalid),” said the former national futsal coach of Japan and Thailand.
“The most important thing tomorrow is our defence; we need to be fantastic, almost flawless in defence. They are ruthless in attack, we know this and we have seen this from their matches.
“One-on-one, counter-attack and they will kill us, so our defence must be perfect tomorrow, including our goalkeeper who played a magnificent match in the last game,” stressed the Spaniard, referring to custodian Nguyen Van Huy who was instrumental in his side’s 2-0 over Al Dhafrah.
“Secondly, we must practice prolonged possession. When we have the ball, we need to keep it for as long as possible.
“And finally, we need to play a high-pressing game when they have the ball. Right from the beginning, we cannot give them time to think or dwell on the ball.”
Photo: AFC
Source: the-afc.com
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