
On the evening of January 24th, the Vietnamese National Team played their final match in Group D of the AFC Asian Cup 2023. Despite their valiant efforts, Coach Troussier’s squad unfortunately lost with a score of 2-3, including a goal conceded in the final seconds of added time.
In the post-match press conference, Coach Troussier expressed satisfaction with his players’ performance: “Even though the Vietnamese National Team lost, I am pleased with their performance today. The players played for the national colors and viewed this as preparation for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. They played according to the team’s philosophy, striving until the last minute.”
Regarding the situation that led to Khuat Van Khang’s red card (two yellow cards), Coach Troussier believed that the young Vietnamese midfielder did not commit a foul. “Being a man down, we found it difficult to implement our play style. Perhaps Khang’s red card was the turning point leading to today’s unfortunate result,” said the French coach.
“We played well in the first half, but faced difficulties in the second half with only 10 players on the field. On a positive note, the players maximized their attacking opportunities to score in the second half,” Troussier assessed.

From the Iraqi team’s perspective, Coach Jesus Casas praised the Vietnamese National Team. “Our opponents defended very well in the first half. We controlled the ball but couldn’t score. Vietnam was not an easy opponent, and we won with difficulty.
The Iraqi team made several substitutions in today’s match. That’s normal since we had already secured a spot in the next round,” Coach Jesus Casas stated.
With a perfect 9 points from 3 matches, the Iraqi National Team topped Group D, followed by the Japanese National Team with 6 points, both advancing to the round of 16. The Indonesian National Team, standing third with 3 points, will wait for the results in other groups to determine if they advance as one of the four best third-placed teams.
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