Bau Duc and the National Team Head Coach: 'A dead tiger leaves its skin'

(Baonghean) - The most surprising news for Vietnamese football fans last week was the announcement that the VFF had selected a head coach for the Vietnamese national team.

The person who was trusted to be chosen was Coach Park Hang Seo - the "right-hand man" who helped Coach Guus Hiddink bring Korea to 4th place in the 2002 World Cup. While many people were "guessing" that VFF would choose Kiatisak, Calisto or Alfred Riedl, the person who was not on the list of "candidates" and "nominees" to be the head coach of the Vietnamese team was unexpectedly chosen by VFF.

The person who has contributed to the matchmaking process to find the head coach of the Vietnam national team this time is none other than Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc - Vice President in charge of finance of VFF. Although he submitted his resignation after the failure of U23 Vietnam at SEA Games 29, until now, Mr. Duc seems to still be the key person in VFF when VFF President Mr. Le Hung Dung was absent from all recent VFF meetings.

Bau Duc, along with Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Permanent Vice President and Mr. Le Hoai Anh - General Secretary of VFF, took the trouble to go to Korea to negotiate with Coach Park Hang Seo. The two sides basically agreed on the conditions for Mr. Park to become the head coach of the national team, the U23 team and the Olympic team of Vietnam.

Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc and VFF members negotiated with coach Park Hang Seo in Korea.

Compared to the coaches who have submitted their applications to VFF to run for the position of head coach of the Vietnam national team, it seems that Coach Park Hang Seo stands out more, because he is Asian and has experience as an assistant coach of the Korean national team through two World Cups, 1994 in the US and 2002 in Japan - Korea.

The biggest mark in his coaching career was that Mr. Park Hang Seo was the number 1 assistant to Coach Guus Hiddink at the 2002 World Cup, helping South Korea – the first Asian team to finish 4th in the World Cup. But after that, Mr. Park was not successful with the clubs he coached and gradually fell into oblivion.

Many people ask the question: Why was a rather secretive coach like Mr. Park suddenly chosen by VFF to replace coach Huu Thang instead of someone who was familiar with Vietnamese football like Kiatisak, Calisto or Alfred Riedl or a coach from other developed football backgrounds like Europe?

In fact, with his wide and prestigious relationships, Mr. Duc has many channels to select coaches for the Vietnam national team. The problem is who he wants to choose to maximize the talents of the young players of HAGL who are called up to the national team.

Therefore, regarding domestic coaches, he has absolute confidence in Huu Thang. After Huu Thang resigned, someone nominated coach Hoang Anh Tuan to take charge of the national team, but Mr. Duc criticized him and bluntly declared that he would "ban" this coach from the national team. Regarding foreign coaches, Mr. Duc can choose Japanese or Korean coaches, because HAGL's young players have competed in Korea and Japan such as Nguyen Huu Anh Tai, Le Duc Luong, Luong Xuan Truong (Korea), Van Toan, Tuan Anh, Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong (Japan).

Therefore, the choice of Korean coach Park is understandable, because Mr. Duc is afraid that coaches who are allergic to technical skills will stunt the young HAGL players - the players that he has devoted all his heart and money to training for a long time.

That is why Mr. Duc hastily urged VFF members to immediately find a head coach for the Vietnam national team. Because he knows that after he withdraws from VFF, everything can change, and at that time, the young players of HAGL are not sure if they will be trusted? So before the VFF congress takes place in March 2018, Mr. Duc must find a "captain" to lead the national team, then he can rest assured to leave VFF.

That's why, when hearing the news that VFF announced that it had found a head coach for the national team, veteran coach Le Thuy Hai, although quite satisfied with the expertise of coach Park Hang Seo, also asked: "I also don't understand why VFF is in such a hurry to find and announce a head coach for the national team, the selection process is also somewhat discreet and secretive. In my opinion, VFF should be frank and comfortable in this matter. If we only focus on the opinions of the members of the VFF Standing Committee or the National Coaching Council, I feel a bit sad."

Duc Dung