New beginnings: Japan's Toshiya Miura (right) shakes hands with the Viet Nam Football Federation General Secretary Le Hoai Anh at the contract ceremony in HCM City on Saturday. — Photo baomoi.net.vn

HA NOI (VNS) — New head coach of the national football team, Toshiya Miura, is confident he will win with his players, although he does not understood Vietnamese well.

The Japanese coach made his comments following his contract signing ceremony on Saturday in HCM City.

Miura said he did not know much about Viet Nam's football. The only match that he had knowledge of was a 0-1 loss to Japan two years ago in Kobe. Despite that defeat, Miura thought Viet Nam had the potential to develop, and his experience gained while coaching in Japan, he said, would lead to success in Viet Nam.

The 51-year-old coach noted that he would apply part of Japan's tactics to the Vietnamese, which would help the team win the ASEAN Football Federation Cup later this year.

Miura, who will receive some US$12,000 per month in salary, was not given a target for his two-year contract, although the VFF hoped under his reign Viet Nam could enter the semi-final round of the AFF Cup.

The Iwate resident believes he will make Viet Nam one of the four strongest teams, and to become champions, both he and the team need to work hard and show much determination, because it is not an easy tournament.

Asked about the low appreciation of the team by the public, Muira, who was also a sports commentator, said he was a professional coach and familiar with the pressure and requirements of both the media and public.

He added that such pressures were normal and he was confident that he would change people's minds about him.

Asked about the reason that he had never worked with any club more than two years, Miura said this was not a disadvantage.

The new coach noted that there were only a few coaches in Japan who had worked in as many as 100 matches in their local J-League tournament, and he was proud to have been one of them.

Miura flew home after the signing ceremony and will return to Viet Nam next week.

He also said he would watch players in the V-League and find the best athletes for the national team. Then he would draw up plans which would help them bring into play their strongest points.

Miura is also known as an expert in youth football training, as he wrote a book entitled, The Soccer Academy: Let's Learn! in Japanese for children from six to 11 years old.

He also works with J-League clubs to set up coaching teams to take charge of training young squads of U15 and U18. He periodically performs consultancy work for these clubs, as well as the JFA's training centres.

"VFF did not choose Miura due to his CV. We trusted him, as he was introduced by the Japan Football Association (JFA). He was not well-known, but it was not a problem," said VFF Chairman Le Hung Dung.

Dung said he appreciated the Japanese coach and his discipline, which would make a better Vietnamese teams, whose members recently broke rules and regulations by neglecting their practises. — VNS