Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese football is beingstrongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, bud head coach Park Hang-seoand his assistants aren't waiting around for the outbreak to end.

The national team has two important goals this year, the 2022 World Cupqualifiers and defending the AFF Cup.

“My assistants and I are working together everyday.We've reviewed match videos and analysed each player in detail to optimisetheir performances,” said the Korean coach.

“At present, Vietnam have a lot of good midfielders and weneed to use this strength to develop different tacticsso the team is ready for different rivals,” Park added.

Vietnam have three more games in the World Cupqualifiers. They will meet Malaysia on October 13 at Bukit Jalil Stadium.They will then take on Indonesia on November 12 at My Dinh National Stadium andfinally face the UAE at Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium.

They were scheduled to meet Malaysia on March 31, but thegame was delayed due to the spread of COVID-19.

According to Park, the delay will give Malaysia moretime to complete the naturalisation of their fourth player foreign.

However, he said he didn't care about that, and his onlyfocus was on his team.  "We need plans to improve the team duringthis break,” he explained.

Vietnam currently lead their World Cup qualifying Group G on11 points after five matches, followed by Malaysia (nine points), Thailand(eight points), UAE (six points) and Indonesia (0 points).

Park said the upcoming match with Malaysia will be veryimportant for his team.

“The match with Malaysia is the most important.  Theyare strong and will play at home. If we win against Malaysia, we willmaintain first place and open the door to the final qualifying round. We willmake every effort to beat Malaysia,” said Park.

The coach also emphasised that it is time for the Vietnameseteam to change and adapt to new situations, especially now theiropponents understand the team's playing style.

Now we are looking at solutions to improve the existingtactics, as well as prepare new tactics which are suitable for existingplayers.

The players will have to adapt to the new tactics and the changewill help them raise their level,” said Park.

Another difficulty for the national team is that many keyplayers are injured. Park hopes they will recover after the COVID-19 outbreak.

“An injured player is unlucky but we can prevent and limitinjuries. I think that clubs need to focus more on their medical staff.Players need specific treatment. It is very important and will helpplayers avoid serious injuries that sideline them for a long time,” said thecoach.

“We are considering their replacements. Of course, there isno perfect answer but we will find solutions for the national team,”Park added./.