Timor Leste coach suddenly made a promise to Vietnamese fans, Singapore coach was ‘timid’ and did not dare to think ahead…

Being rated lowest in Group A and receiving a heavy 10-0 defeat against Thailand on the opening day, the Timor Leste team is still showing a commendable spirit. In the second match against Malaysia (December 11), coach Simon Elissetche’s team played determinedly and only lost the narrow match 2-3. More worth mentioning, in the first half, the Timor Leste team was the one who took a 2-1 lead.

Before the competition with Singapore, coach Simon Elissetche (Chilean) expressed his determination: “We respect Singapore, but still want to defeat them. In tomorrow’s match, we want to compete fairly with Singapore. Timor Leste wants to show fierceness like the previous match against Malaysia. I want my players to play with determination and bring good results. Timor Leste will do its best, defend tightly when your team has the ball and try to attack when you have the ball. After 2 losses, now is the time we want to get our first point.”

Notably, in the next match, the Timor Leste team will return to play at Hang Day Stadium (Hanoi). Coach Simon Elissetche assessed that the love of Vietnamese fans is a great motivation for him and the Timor Leste players.

“I am grateful to Hanoi fans in particular and Vietnam in general for coming to the stadium to cheer for Timor Leste in the opening match at Hang Day Stadium. Even though that match was not played well, the audience still supported the players. After the match, I received many messages of encouragement from Vietnamese friends, which helped the whole team gain more confidence. Hopefully, in tomorrow’s match, we will continue to receive that support and will perform well more to give to Vietnamese fans Nam”, coach Simon Elissetche added.

Meanwhile, the Singapore team is facing a lot of criticism despite having 3 points on the opening day (winning 2-1 against Cambodia at home). The team of coach Tsutomu Ogura (Japanese) was rated higher but allowed the opponent to dominate and had to stay defensive for most of the match. In addition, Singapore’s two goals in the match against Cambodia also came from mistakes by the opponent’s goalkeeper.

Coach Tsutomu Ogura admitted that his team is under a lot of pressure and must quickly improve if they want to pass the group stage. He shared: “We prepared for the next match right after the opening win. The whole team also had meetings to learn from experience. All of our players think Timor Leste is a tough opponent.

In this group, every opponent is very difficult and we need to do our best. It is difficult to determine which team will easily win the AFF Cup 2024. This is a very competitive tournament. I can’t talk about the possibility of reaching the semi-finals right now. We will focus on one match at a time. After the match against Timor Leste, we will think about the matches against Thailand and Malaysia. Only after those matches can we think further.”