Vietnam coach worried

BANGKOK – Vietnam’s national soccer coach says he has the country’s most talented youngsters in his Asian Games squad but admits there are big concerns all over the pitch.

Austrian Alfred Riedl said the under-23 team’s best central defender was injured and that the goalkeepers were off form, inexperienced and lacking “nerves of steel”. Riedl also admitted he did not have a midfield playmaker and his strikers were struggling to find the net after squandering a series of opportunities in recent internationals.”The under-23 squad I am building has the best youth talent in Vietnam at the moment,” Riedl was quoted as saying in state media.”However, I am worried about problems that we still need to overcome.”The former Austria Vienna, FC Metz and Standard Liege striker is in his third stint as Vietnam coach since 1998 having previously been fired for speaking out against the Communist country’s state-run soccer federation.Riedl is hugely popular in Vietnam having taken the team from virtual obscurity to silver medals in the 1999 and 2003 Southeast Asian Games.Nampa-ReutersRiedl also admitted he did not have a midfield playmaker and his strikers were struggling to find the net after squandering a series of opportunities in recent internationals.”The under-23 squad I am building has the best youth talent in Vietnam at the moment,” Riedl was quoted as saying in state media.”However, I am worried about problems that we still need to overcome.”The former Austria Vienna, FC Metz and Standard Liege striker is in his third stint as Vietnam coach since 1998 having previously been fired for speaking out against the Communist country’s state-run soccer federation.Riedl is hugely popular in Vietnam having taken the team from virtual obscurity to silver medals in the 1999 and 2003 Southeast Asian Games.Nampa-Reuters