ASIAN Cup 2023: Coach Troussier decides to keep his tactics secret.
According to an announcement from the VFF, the Vietnamese national team will only open its training session to the media this afternoon (January 3rd), before departing for Qatar to participate in the 2023 Asian Cup finals on January 5th, 2024.
Filming time is also limited to the first 20 minutes of the training session, which is when the players are warming up.
Since assembling its full squad on December 31, 2023, the Vietnamese national team has only trained behind closed doors, and to date, no official information or images related to the team have been released.
It's clear that coach Philippe Troussier is carrying out the most rigorous and thorough information security measures regarding the Vietnamese national team compared to previous foreign coaches, even more strictly than those implemented by a coach known for his meticulousness like Park Hang Seo.
It's not difficult to understand why Mr. Troussier wants to keep information about the Vietnamese national team so secret. After a series of unimpressive results and poor performances in the first nine months of 2023, both with the senior national team and the U23 team, the French coach desperately needs a positive outcome with the Vietnamese team at the upcoming 2023 Asian Cup finals.
To achieve that, Troussier would have to surprise strong opponents in the group stage such as Japan, Iraq, and even Indonesia under coach Shin Tae Yong. In today's information-rich era, any leaked image of the Vietnamese national team could become a clue for opposing teams.
Therefore, this is one of the reasons why fans and experts alike have no idea what the Vietnamese team will look like in Qatar, or even how Mr. Troussier is coaching them.Vietnam national teamHaving both the U23 team and the national team on the same team at the same time is also a difficult mystery to solve.
Based on coach Troussier's personnel choices in the national teams during 2023, one can only speculate that the French coach will likely continue to give opportunities to young players, as a way to prepare for the 2024 U23 Asian Championship and, further ahead, the 2026 World Cup. However, how many young players he will use, or how many veterans from the Park Hang Seo era will remain on the squad for Qatar, remains a big question mark.
However, by calling up Ho Tan Tai, a player he had overlooked in many national team training camps in 2023, coach Troussier showed that he is not an overly conservative coach, and when necessary, he does not hesitate to push his own boundaries.
There is only one thing Mr. Troussier is determined not to change: the security of information within the Vietnamese national team. And for the sake of the 2023 Asian Cup, which is worth waiting for, no one can complain to Mr. Troussier about this issue.
