Vietnamese Football and the Spring-filled January

Time will tell, but it is certain that the recent U21 batch has been assigned to2022 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, winning the championship after a difficult journey to fight Covid-19 will help fans regain their faith in Vietnamese youth football in regional and continental playgrounds, affirming the correctness and necessity of improving the quality of youth training to serve higher goals ahead.

Vietnam national football team won a historic 3-1 victory over China national football team on the first day of the new year.

Clearly, the Year of the Tiger 2022 is opening up commendable successes for Vietnamese football at all levels. That is the Vietnamese national team's historic 3-1 victory over the Chinese national team on the first day of the new year, setting a record in regional football in the third qualifying round of the World Cup.

That was the first time the Vietnamese women's team won against the Chinese Taipei team to enter the 2023 World Cup finals despite having to endure countless difficulties in terms of personnel due to the Covid-19 pandemic. That was the resilient U23 Vietnam team overcoming the pandemic, overcoming themselves to defeat all opponents, winning the championship in the regional tournament for the first time.

All of the above teams had to endure training and competing during Tet, had to struggle to prevent the epidemic, adapt to all circumstances to stand up, stand firm and win. Coach Mai Duc Chung said that there were female players who could not run because they had just recovered from Covid-19, but had to enter the field but still played as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, the U21 players played to the limit, exhausted, constantly lying on the field, having to abandon the previous match but still played the next match as usual. Many players contracted Covid-19, treated themselves in a foreign land, but when they tested negative and met the requirements to register for the match, they fought fiercely according to the requirements.

U23 Vietnam has steadfastly won in difficult conditions. Photo: Vietnamplus

If the Vietnamese national team has been successful in recent years thanks to foreign coaches, then women's football and youth football are thanks to the efforts of experienced domestic coaches Mai Duc Chung and Dinh The Nam. Besides their talent and experience, we can see the dedication and devotion of a teacher, an elder brother who has inspired the players to enthusiastically practice, contribute, and maximize their abilities and strengths in all circumstances.

Among those successful steps, it is impossible not to mention the success of Vietnamese football training centers, associated with the bosses and localities. This will always be the basic foundation, the starting point of all successes and the hope for the transformation to the region, continent and the world. The training centers of Hanoi FC, Viettel, SLNA, VPF, HAGL, Nuti Food Academy... have been and are the addresses providing sources for the teams.

How happy that the annual youth tournaments are always held, now starting from the U9 group (SLNA U9 just won the 2022 Championship), not just from U11 or U13 as before. Clearly, Vietnamese football is on the right track, fundamental, methodical, scientific, modern... to gradually catch up with "talents" like Japan and Korea in the not too distant future.

Suddenly remembering the old familiar saying "January is the month of fun" to be even happier with Vietnamese football, a January of the Year of the Tiger, full of victories on all fronts: the Vietnamese national team opened the campaign with a meaningful victory on the first day, the women's team won a ticket to the world on the seventh day and the U23 youth team won the throne on the twenty-sixth day. Hopefully "a good start will lead to a good ending" for another successful and more excellent Year of the Tiger for Vietnamese football, with the V.League 2022 going well as a foundation for success at the 31st SEA Games, at the U23 Asian Cup, at the 2022 AFF Cup...

Indeed, Vietnamese football is entering a spring full of colors and fragrances in the joy, faith, and consensus of the whole society. And everyone knows that the development of sports and football always goes hand in hand with the progress of the country, of each family and each individual in every region. Starting from January…