Nepal Coach: 'At many moments, my players were too naive'

However, after going down 0-1, my players responded well and managed to score an equalizer. I appreciate their effort. Yet, the Vietnam team is a balanced unit with quality players in all three lines—from goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders to forwards—and they made excellent use of their numerical advantage to claim victory,” Coach Matt Ross said in the post-match press conference.

The Australian coach added, “The important thing is that we managed to contain Vietnam in many situations. Playing against them is truly challenging, especially since we had to play with one less player for almost 50 minutes.

Now is the time for the entire team to start preparing for the rematch with Vietnam in 5 days. In today’s match, some of my players appeared too naive—such as the foul that caused the red card or the moments of inattention during free kicks.

Certainly, the players must learn from those mistakes. When we have a full squad, I believe we will perform better in the next meeting with Vietnam.

We will need to study more thoroughly before the rematch, learn from past experiences, especially in set-piece situations, and accumulate more experience. Nepal will prepare better for the upcoming match. Nepal will compete fairly with Vietnam if fully staffed. The players themselves also need to continue learning to develop their professional careers.”

The Nepal coach also shared about the habit of taking notes on observations after analyzing Vietnam’s training session ahead of the match.

“This is a routine for coaches. Besides watching videos, I prefer to observe players training directly to evaluate their strengths and playing habits.”

He also mentioned his dressing habit, choosing to wear a vest for this match. “It’s quite hot to dress like this, but with many fans and media interested in the game, I chose to dress appropriately to show respect to the opponent.”