By Ivan Saldajeno
BINAN--With the team scheduled for a Southeast Asian Games men's football match at the Binan Football Stadium on Monday, Vietnam's men's under-22 team decided to get a first glance of the venue by holding its training there on Sunday.
But with the team billeted in Manila, it had to endure a long travel further hampered by the heavy traffic at the South Luzon Expressway caused by the ongoing extension project of the Skyway.
"Our hotel in Manila is far from here.... To train [for] one hour, we have to spend three hours back and forth, which is very unreasonable," Park Hang-Seo, Vietnam's head coach, said right after the match through a Korean interpreter.
Vietnam would have had to brave the SLEX traffic, which is actually worse at the northbound lane, anew just to go back to its billeting area... not until the PFF intervened.
"With the help of the PFF, we were able to sleep here, and having rest here gave good condition to the players," Park further said, implying a thanksgiving to the Philippine governing body for football.
Vietnam indeed entered its match against Brunei well conditioned, and a near flawless performance from both ends of the pitch earned the former a 6-0 win.
[Related Story: Vietnam mauls Brunei; Malaysia, Myanmar battle to draw as SEA Games men's football begins]
Vietnam will be back here on Thursday to take on Laos. Vietnam will only get to play closer to its hotel, that is, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila by Sunday night when it battles Indonesia.
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