In an interview with Tuoi Tre, Japanese coach Suzuki Masakaru said that the international U-19 Nutifood Cup match between Vietnam and Japan at 18:00pm today in Ho Chi Minh City will be very tough and interesting.

He admitted that he was surprised at the fast attacks performed by Vietnamese young footballers in the AS Roma game two days ago and confirmed that he has his way to confront it.

In the training session yesterday, Japanese players were deployed to make attacks along both wings and this may prove to be Japan’s main tactic in the match against Vietnam.

Can you say something about the similarity between both teams U-19 Japan and U-19 Vietnam?

Coach Suzuki Masakaru: Both sides have similarities when it comes to techniques and tactics, but the difference is Vietnam has more outstanding players than Japan.

I am very surprised at the fast attacks that Vietnam deployed in the match two days ago.

U-19 Vietnam is playing the kind of football that Japan is pursuing. It is quite different from the technique of other nations in the world. Japan have created a technique from learning football skills in other nations, whereas Vietnam’s technique remains their own.

The Vietnamese techniques are well suited to the physical figure and strength of Japanese players.

And what is your way to confront it?

I can’t reveal it yet, wait to see how they do it. I am just confident that the game will be very interesting.

Both U-19 Vietnam and U-19 Japan have a similar goal: winning a place to play in the U-20 World Cup next year in Canada.

To you, who is the most outstanding Vietnamese player?

Almost all of the players in your team are very talented. I am most impressed by your number 10 Nguyen Cong Phuong. He is a potential ‘killer’.

However, he is still young and inexperienced. In previous games I noticed that he needed to shoot, but passed the ball to others instead.

So for now, he is only good at ‘disturbing’, not ‘killing’.

My players will take care of him in our match today.

Will U-19 Vietnam be able to compete with other strong teams at the 2014 Asian Football Championship in October?

I think that their ambitions should not only lie within Asia.

I think that U-19 Vietnam will create more chances to score if their defense and midfield lines have a better connection. If you can do that, you can play against any team in the world. The 1-2 loss to AS Roma two days ago proved that.

Nutifood Cup’s competition schedule:

January 6: 15:40: U-19 Tottenham 2 – 1 U-19 Japan 18:00: U-19 Vietnam 1 – 2 U-19 AS Roma

January 8: 15:40: AS Roma – Tottenham 18:00: Vietnam – Japan

January 10: 15:40: AS Roma – Japan 18:00: Vietnam – Tottenham 20:00: Closing and prize-awarding ceremony