Adriano Schmidt and the positive message from coach Park Hang-seo.

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has just announced the list of 28 players called up to prepare for the final two matches of the season.3rd round of World Cup 2022 qualifiersagainst Oman and Japan. Similar to the previous training camp, Coach Park continued to refresh the team with three "newcomers": Nguyen Van Vi, Vu Tuyen Quang, and Adriano Schmidt.

Among them, the inclusion of Adriano Schmidt came as a surprise to many because, after Dang Van Lam, he is the first Vietnamese-born player of overseas origin to catch the eye of coach Park Hang-seo. The South Korean coach has several reasons for making this decision.

Vietnamese-German center-back Adriano Schmidt was unexpectedly called up to the national team by coach Park.Photo: Ba Tuan

First, it must be stated that Adriano Schmidt has a good physique for playing as a center-back (1.85m tall). The 27-year-old center-back has a Vietnamese father and a German mother. He previously trained and played for lower-league clubs in Germany such as Ingolstadt, Eichstatt, Gerolfing, and Schwabmünchen before returning to Vietnam to play for Hai Phong in 2018.

It took Adriano Schmidt quite some time to adapt to Vietnamese culture and football before he became a key player for Hai Phong. The Vietnamese-German center-back played a total of 48 V-League matches for Hai Phong before moving to Binh Dinh at the beginning of the 2022 season.

Coach Park Hang-seo personally went to Quy Nhon Stadium to watch Adriano Schmidt's performance when Binh Dinh hosted Viettel in the opening round of the V-League 2022. Binh Dinh lost that match (0-2), but Coach Park recognized many important qualities in Adriano Schmidt that could strengthen the Vietnamese national team's defense.

More importantly, coach Park Hang-seo has sent a message demonstrating his willingness to welcome any player to the national team. Previously, the South Korean coach had been criticized by the media for not refreshing the team, leading to a series of failures in the third round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and the 2020 AFF Cup.

Adriano Schmidt spent many years establishing his name in the V-League. (Photo courtesy of PV)

In the previous training camp (against Australia and China), Coach Park revamped the midfield and forward lines with names like Tuan Hai and Van Vu. In this training camp, Adriano Schmidt is one of the three new names added to the defense.

In fact, for many years, the Vietnamese national team has consistently relied on three defensive options: Que Ngoc Hai, Tien Dung, and Duy Manh. However, this trio doesn't always perform at their best. Therefore, Coach Park's decision to call up new faces like Adriano Schmidt is essential.

Most importantly, Coach Park sent a very positive message that he is ready to welcome players to the national team. Secondly, the South Korean coach wants to utilize another resource of Vietnamese football: overseas Vietnamese players. There are quite a few players of Vietnamese descent who have wanted to contribute to the Vietnamese national team over the years, including Adriano Schmidt.

Coach Park was once very pleased with Dang Van Lam. And if he continues to be successful with Adriano Schmidt, the Vietnamese national team could certainly welcome other overseas Vietnamese players such as Filip Nguyen or Jason Pendant Quang Vinh…

The desire to contribute and prove themselves shown by these "newcomers" can absolutely make a difference for the Vietnamese national team. This is something that Coach Park has missed in many previous training camps…