Professional football and foreign teachers
(Baonghean.vn) - Since reintegrating into the region and the world, Vietnamese football has been associated with foreign coaches, from Mr. Weigang to Mr. Troussier currently at the Vietnam National Team and many other foreign coaches at clubs.
The success associated with foreign coaches is something that everyone knows and acknowledges, but the story is not just that. At the club level, for example, there are quite a few foreign coaches who fail quickly, the latest case of Mr. Gong Oh-kyun at Hanoi Police proves that.
At the Vietnam National Team level, the most successful foreign coach is Mr. Park Hang-seo and before that, Mr. Calisto. Many people know that Mr. Park Hang-seo is successful because he is not only a good professional, but also a good manager, knowing how to gather the strength of each individual to create a strong, united team, a person close to each player, creating trust in a large number of fans. Therefore, under Mr. Park Hang-seo, Vietnamese football has just won the AFF Cup 2028, won the Gold Medal at SEA Games 31 and 32, not to mention the continental achievements... Meanwhile, Mr. Calisto first succeeded with Dong Tam Long An and from the top stars Tai Em-Minh Phuong combined with a series of other talents such as Hong Son, Cong Vinh... to win the AFF Cup for the first time with the Vietnam National Team in 1998. The rest are foreign coaches who only brought the Vietnam National Team to second place like Weigang, Riedl, or even failed to reach that level like Dido, Goetz, Miura...
The stories of the above successful foreign coaches, along with the marks of Mr. Gong Oh-kyun when leading the U23 Vietnam team in 2022, show that if you have the best players, receive systematic and long-term training, everything will basically be smooth and positive. On the contrary, coaching at a club with a long competition schedule, many things are different from when training the national team, different player levels, different views on lifestyle, football philosophies, etc. will make things much more complicated. Everyone knows that, so far, only Mr. Calisto has been successful with both Dong Tam Long An and the Vietnam National Team and to some extent with the U23 Vietnam team. That is rare and it is not easy to say that the Portuguese coach is successful thanks to his talent, dedication or luck in achieving that?
In fact, despite being loved and respected, Austrian coach A. Riedl and Japanese coach Miura, followed by Korean coach Gong Oh-kyun... could not succeed in leading teams in the V.League after leaving the Vietnam National Team and U23 Vietnam. The latest and most noteworthy story related to Mr. Gong Oh-kyun when he led 5 matches with only 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses, leading to "losing the right to command" and leaving without fanfare. Then, right after that, Hanoi Police had a devastating 3-0 victory over the rising team Binh Duong in round 8 of the V-League? The question is why did the team transform so quickly and easily? Obviously, Mr. Gong did not understand the team's internal affairs, team culture, did not really understand the locker room, did not have an "extended arm" in the team, so everything just slipped out of reach without being able to understand why?
The failure or inability to succeed as expected of foreign coaches at the club level is a long list, including Mr. Popov at Dong A Thanh Hoa, although his mark is real, or Mr. Polking at Ho Chi Minh City, then Kiatisak at Hoang Anh Gia Lai... The talent of foreign coaches cannot be denied, but whether they are successful or not, unfortunately in V.League, talent is not enough, but many other things are needed. Many foreign coaches at Hanoi FC, Viettel or Hanoi Police... have left one after another, giving way to domestic coaches, "homegrown" is a reality. It must be seen that many domestic coaches, thanks to being "assistants" to foreign coaches, have learned many things, to gradually be capable of taking on the task, including famous people such as Nguyen Thanh Vinh, Phan Thanh Hung, Le Huynh Duc, Chu Dinh Nghiem...
The current trend of comprehensive and deep integration of Vietnamese football will continue to attract foreign coaches accompanied by professional teams, doctors, physical trainers, etc. Those who develop their inherent talent and professionalism, quickly "integrate" into the culture, lifestyle, choose appropriate behavior, etc. will quickly achieve success and vice versa. At that time, Vietnamese assistants and players, if they know how to take advantage of learning and equipping themselves with knowledge from vivid reality, will quickly mature.
Remember, even famous football countries like Brazil, England, Japan, Korea... or close friends like Thailand, Indonesia all need foreign coaches. Vietnamese football has been successful and still needs talented foreign coaches to aim for the highest possible goals. The success lessons of coaches Park Hang-seo, Calisto... as well as the failures of many other coaches show that everything can be done, although not easily. The problem is that after many generations of foreign coaches coming and going, what valuable baggage does Vietnamese football have to move forward? And if somewhere there is a story of "the coach's chair has 4 legs, the player holds 3", then it is definitely a bad teacher and a bad student. What is related to Mr. Gong Oh-kyun recently and Mr. Polking coming here must have many things to ponder for not only a football team, a developing football?
