Vietnam have been the in-form team throughout October and November so far in the FPL World Cup and have clawed themselves to within a couple of points of Saudi Arabia who got off to an absolute flyer (see interview with Abdullah Madani here). They are also sitting pretty at the top of Group H in the Trophy competition with a 26 point gap to second-placed South Africa.
I interviewed captain Nguyen Huu Khanh (@NHKhanh) to ask him how his team have managed to go on such a brilliant run:
AF: Firstly well done on a great start to the season! How does it feel to be sitting in 2nd place of the FPL World Cup League after GW12?
NHK: We’re very surprised and proud, there are many strong teams in this tournament and our performance is incredible. However, we’re also know that “FPL is a marathon, not a sprint” and this result is just temporary. The gaps between the teams are very close and position will change many times till the end of the season. There are many teams with veteran players and they all know that the season still has a long time remaining and they can improve their ranks after some good performing GWs, like us in recent weeks. By the way, we’re having a one week break and will enjoy this result with our teams, our friends and FPL players of my country, Vietnam. We’re very proud to be represented Vietnam and make Vietnam famous through this tournament, although Twitter is not popular in my country.
AF: What do you attribute your team’s recent great form to?
NHK: Our team has been helped by many useful information, analysis and advice from many Twitter’s veterans. Some members of our team are members of Fantasy Football Hub and Fantasy Football Scout, and their tools and articles helped us very much. Besides, we’ve also had some luck in our decisions, as you know, luck is important part in FPL successful.
AF: Does your team communicate or collaborate at all?
NHK: Yeah, of course, our team has a group chat and communicate all week about transfer strategy, get some ideas from other ones or maybe some captain choices. At weekend, our team talk about football matches we’re watching, some players to pay attention to and events in the GW.
AF: Do you feel your team is currently overperforming or can you carry on in this fashion for the rest of the season?
NHK: Our member’s is to be in at least the Top 20k at the end of season with some members reaching it in recent seasons and we’re heading to this target now. We believe we can keep good up the good performance in the next GWs but other teams can do that and even better.
AF – How do you feel about your Trophy group?
Our group has decent teams, especially South Africa with @DayvyFPL (Rank 22 last season) and I think we must try our best to keep our current position.
AF: What would your advice be to team’s who haven’t had the start they wanted?
NHK: As I said before, these current results are just temporary, there are many teams with many experienced players and they all know that they can improve their ranks after some good performing GWs. Some important moments of the season are still ahead (like Christmas – New Year Time, Chips Time,…), so anything can happen and all they need is just a little patience, and also some luck, as we do.
AF: Many thanks Nguyen and good luck for the rest of the season!
Humble words from Nguyen and his team, make no mistake though, their form has been superb and they are in it to win.
To see Vietnam’s impressive league position click here with their Trophy progress here
Andrew Ferguson Fantasy Football 