Vietnamese football and the story of 'standing shoulder to shoulder with the superpowers'

At the 2023 season closing ceremony, Hanoi Police expressed their determination to strive to "show the image of the Police sector's football not only domestically, but also in regional and continental arenas". Accordingly, Hanoi Police will certainly set specific goals, plans, and action programs, first of all for the process of participating in the AFC Champions League, tentatively called the Asian Cup C1 according to regulations next season.

Currently, based on the results of last season, Hanoi FC is also actively preparing in all aspects to participate in the most prestigious tournament in this continent. This is a tournament that gathers the national championship teams of the continent, so of course Hanoi FC now as well as Hanoi Police next season will face many challenges and difficulties from the group stage to the next knockout rounds. Similarly, Hai Phong will compete in the AFC Cup, the second playground in the continent, similar to the European Cup C2, because they previously competed in the play-off for tickets to the AFC Champions League but were unsuccessful.

We all know that in the history of the AFC Champions League, no V-League team has ever passed the group stage. Although Binh Duong and Hoang Anh Gia Lai have won resoundingly against some strong teams in the continent, the road to the knockout round is still quite a distance away. In the AFC Cup, Binh Duong reached the semi-finals in 2009, similarly, Hanoi FC also reached the inter-regional final in 2020 but could not get the expected results. Viettel also made it through the AFC Cup group stage last year, but lost in the semi-finals... To see, the challenges in these continental playgrounds are really harsh for V-League teams, even if they have potential and real ambition to reach the top.

Of course, the modest results mentioned above are a new development for Vietnamese football compared to the situation of many teams “running away” many years ago. There are two options for teams that “accidentally” enter the above expensive tournaments: pay a fine or lose the match to leave the tournament without affecting the budget and force for domestic tournaments.

Remember in 2000, Song Lam Nghe An won the national championship, participating in this tournament with the Indonesian team Oxaca. In the first leg away from home, Huu Thang and his teammates held on to a 0-0 draw, which was extremely commendable. A large audience then packed Hang Day Stadium to witness the way the Nghe team pushed high, allowing the opponent to break the offside trap, scoring 4 goals at once and only managing to equalize once, leaving the tournament that everyone knew they did not have enough funds to pursue in the long term. There was also a memorable, sad story related to Da Nang's 0-14 loss in Japan for many reasons, including leaving the main team at home, but letting the second team play as a formality to finish the matter...

In that context, the fact that teams like Hanoi FC, Viettel or most recently Hanoi Police have shown their desire to reach new heights and “stand shoulder to shoulder with the great powers” ​​is something that is very interesting and worth supporting and encouraging. A developed football industry must of course be based on the development of the leading clubs first. If they can compete with the leading teams in the continent, Vietnamese players will of course improve in all aspects, from mentality, technical and tactical skills, to aspirations and desires to improve their performance for individuals, teams and domestic tournaments.

Not only players but also domestic coaches have the opportunity to improve their coaching skills through each defeat or victory. A large number of fans also have the opportunity to witness with their own eyes the continental stars, even world stars playing on their home field. The story may be far away, but who knows, if Hanoi FC or some other team plays well, makes it through the group stage, and advances to the knockout rounds, then the audience in the capital and surrounding areas will have the opportunity to witness Ronaldo, Neymar or Benzema from the rich Middle East playing, isn't it out of reach?

Obviously, the story of Vietnamese football reaching new heights and standing shoulder to shoulder was not only initiated by coach Troussier and managed by himself.U23 Vietnam, Vietnam Olympics and Vietnam National Team, which must always go hand in hand, step up with many other forces and levels, the most important of which are the professional football teams of V-League.

Currently, hopes are placed on the performance of Hanoi FC in the AFC Champions League, Hai Phong in the AFC Cup and the careful, quality preparation of Hanoi Police for the upcoming continental season. Of course, financial strength and the desire to rise will help ensure that the above teams have good foreign players and good foreign coaches to take on the task, thereby creating the necessary launching pad for domestic players, especially young talents who have been trained systematically, scientifically, and have great potential for development compared to previous generations who have experienced too many difficulties and obstacles.

And of course, sports in general, football in particular, always go hand in hand with socio-economic sectors in the process of deep international integration so that our country can gradually "stand shoulder to shoulder with the world powers", to truly reach out and progress in the coming time./.