Will Vietnamese football have a breakthrough after Park Hang-seo?

Vietnamese football has achieved a lot of success under Mr. Park Hang-seo, from 2017-2022 and those are results that are not easy to repeat for those who continue the job after that.

There are important milestones we have achieved such as entering the 3rd qualifying round of the World Cup, the quarter-finals of the ASIAD, defeating the Chinese team, drawing with the Japanese team, which will be talked about a lot more...

Coach Park Hang Seo has achieved many successes after 5 years with Vietnamese football. Photo: bongdaplus.vn

But there is also a steep "slope" that the team under Mr. Park Hang-seo cannot overcome, which is the Thai team in official tournaments, including the recent AFF Cup 2020 and 2022. Unfortunately, that is the most important thing in the process of reaching out to the continent of Vietnamese football today and this is considered as steps that have not reached the destination, very worrying and cannot be satisfied with the reality.

The Thais themselves have said what we don't want to hear but is the obvious truth. That is, the Vietnamese team operates a team-oriented style of play, focusing on results but easy to predict, a style of play that is not offensive or creative.

In fact, those frank comments are not wrong. The problem is whether we dare to look straight at the truth and find effective solutions, as soon as possible, right after Mr. Park Hang-seo left and left behind a solid foundation, an inherent winning habit, but whenever meeting the Thais, even though Mr. Park Hang-seo's team has improved, the best result is still a draw.

We also know that there are many specific, fundamental reasons why Vietnamese football has not been able to surpass Thai football, first of all the reason is from V-League.

The Vietnamese team returned home after losing the second leg of the AFF Cup 2022 final. Photo: Zing.

A tournament that is increasingly professional and progressive but has not yet provided the best elements for the Vietnam National Team or Vietnam U23, when foreign players play a crucial role in the success of each team. There is no way that the stars, after “wearing the tight V-League shirt”, will go abroad to play to improve their level and return to serve the national team like Chanathip or Theerathon did and were more than capable of “winning” Vietnam more than once or twice.

It’s not that Vietnamese football doesn’t do it, but the main thing is that it hasn’t been successful with most of its stars, most recently Quang Hai. Currently, Cong Phuong, Van Toan… are abroad, but it can’t be said that they are the best versions, the most hopeful in trying their real strength abroad, the most hopeful of success at present. Does that mean that this still doesn’t see any real light?

Another way is to naturalize players or invite overseas Vietnamese stars to strengthen the teams and national teams. Van Lam is a rare success story, the rest only flare up for a while and then fade away. Hopefully, the new overseas Vietnamese star from the Czech Republic, Philipp Nguyen, will come to play for the Hanoi Police in the near future, along with the regulation that each V-League team is allowed to have one foreign player of Vietnamese origin (no need to have Vietnamese nationality), which will attract many new, positive factors to serve the task of renewing and rebuilding the Vietnam National Team.

And most importantly, after the time of Mr. Park Hang-seo, will Vietnamese football find a truly “cool” teacher who can both maintain the achievements left by his predecessors and completely overcome the fatal weaknesses against the Thais to truly become the leading team in the region, before thinking about expanding to the continent and the world? There is information that there will be a candidate “French, knowledgeable about Asian and Vietnamese football…” who will be a trustworthy and hopeful person, who will best meet the above important requirements.

Let’s wait for reality to prove it. But certainly things are not simple if Vietnamese football has not/does not produce real stars, like Van Quyen, Cong Vinh in the past, or Quang Hai now with the best version, to be the locomotive for a train rushing to the “victory station”.

Also, don’t forget that if the best youth football training centers like Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Song Lam Nghe An… are facing one difficulty after another, and then some rich football team keeps spending money to buy talent to gain achievements, a large-scale football field with yellow grass, uneven… then it will take a long time for the wishes and aspirations of Vietnamese football to become reality.

It is difficult for us to follow the example of the Thais to surpass the Thais because they never stop to wait for anyone. Not to mention that the Thais themselves have participated in the third qualifying round of the World Cup twice, with so many talented people, but are still struggling to find a ticket to the world. Coming after, going slowly with many shortcomings like us, there must be a miracle, a big breakthrough, to really have hope?