VietNamNet Bridge – Japanese Takashi Norimatsu expressed how impressed he was with Vietnam’s female footballers after becoming the head coach of the women’s national team on March 4, affirming that he would work hard to lift the national team to a new height.

In his first interview with the Vietnamese media under the new position, Norimatsu said that he had been convinced by the Vietnamese female team’s performance in the Asian Games semifinal clash against Japan last year, which was also one of the reasons why he decided to quit his job as director of the Ryukyu Football Academy in Okinawa and start the new challenge of coaching in Vietnam.

“That match still remains clear in my mind, with the Vietnamese female footballers’ capabilities having left a deep impression on me. I also watched the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifier between Vietnam and Thailand last year, during which the Vietnamese side performed very well,” said Norimatsu.

“With that potential, I hope that as the national team head coach, I will make a significant contribution to bringing Vietnam’s women’s football to a new level,” he added.

Regarding the reason for his decision to work as coach of a women’s team, Norimatsu frankly shared that from the great potential of Vietnamese women’s football, he would like to seize the opportunity to challenge himself in this new position. He also expressed belief in a promising future with the Vietnamese women’s team despite having never coached women’s football before.

Although having little experience coaching female players, Norimatsu, 47, possesses an abundance of experience in youth football training in Japan. A former professional player, throughout his career spanning from 1987 to 1998, Norimatsu played for numerous clubs in Japan, Germany and Brazil. Norimatsu started a coaching career in 2000 and spent nine years as an assistant coach to youth football teams in Japan. He became the manager of the Tokishima Vortis U13 squad in 2008, and has been working as Director of the Ryukyu Academy since 2010.

Norimatsu’s curriculum vitae is highly impressive, not only due to his ability to speak three foreign languages: Portuguese, English and German, but also due to his two coaching diplomas: an A-class diploma from the Japan Football Association and an international diploma from the Football Association (FA).

On being asked about his personal football philosophy, Norimatsu shared: “The trend of modern football is combining attack and defence while highlighting the role of physical strength. This principle is applied to both men’s and women’s football. I think this is also one of the tactics my colleague Toshiya Miura is applying to the Vietnam men’s national team”.

Ahead of the 2015 AFF Women’s Championship scheduled in Ho Chi Minh City from May 1 to 10, Norimatsu revealed that he will not pose so much expectation on any certain success, but instead focus on realising small immediate goals in order to achieve the best aggregate results.

Nhan Dan