Foreign player story in V.League 2017

(Baonghean.vn) - Participating in V-League 2017, there are 31 foreign players (not including 8 naturalized players) from 15 countries. Among them, there are many players with high professional quality such asMoses Oloya, Gonzalo Damian Marronkle (both from HN FC), Victor Ormazabal (HCMC), Pape Omar Faye (FLC Thanh Hoa). The presence of these players makes the atmosphere on Vietnamese football fields much more lively.

First of all, it must be affirmed that without foreign players, the V-League will significantly reduce the number of spectators. The appearance of more and more quality players allows Vietnamese spectators to witness many good plays and beautiful goals.

Vietnamese players also learn from foreign players personal techniques, tactical thinking and professional style in training and living. All V-League champions have foreign players who are among the top scorers of the season. For many years, no Vietnamese player has won the V-League's top scorer award.

Moses (middle) is the "blockbuster" in the contracts of the 2017 V-League season.

Of the 31 foreign players, 15 come from 5 American countries, with Brazil having the largest number of 7 players, followed by Nigeria and Argentina with 4 and 3 players respectively. There are 11 players from Africa, 3 players from Europe, and 2 players from Asia. As the world's largest exporter of players, it is quite understandable that there are 7 foreign players of Brazilian nationality.

V-League teams are quite fond of the technical style of Brazilian players, most of whom can play in many positions on the field, have abundant physical strength and a relatively healthy lifestyle. The Brazilian player community knows how to share information with each other, so clubs seem to not have to pay transfer fees when recruiting. The only obstacle is that this country uses the Portuguese language, which is not popular in Vietnam.

As for African players, after the scandals in their activities, teams are reluctant to use Ugandan players and have switched to using Nigerian players. All 4 Nigerian players play as strikers with a strong, aggressive style, which coaches really like. There are only 3 Argentinian players playing in the V-League at present, but they are all key players of Hanoi, SHB. Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, of which Gonzalo Damian Marronkle can play any position except goalkeeper.

After the unsuccessful recruitment of Korean players, recently teams have been interested in Asian players, namely Masaaki Ideguchi (Japan) of HAGL and Alvaro Linares Silva (Philippines) of Hanoi FC. In fact, center back Alvaro Linares Silva is a Spanish player naturalized in the Philippines, so he is quite tall.

Of the 31 foreign players, 25 are strikers, 2 midfielders and 4 defenders. In fact, the division is only relative because nearly 50% of foreign strikers can play midfielders. Foreign defenders (all play center backs) such as Chaher Zarour (France), Ramon Rodrigues, Alvaro Linares Silva (Philippines) all have characteristic long passes and are good at aerial combat, so fans are interested in why HAGL chose Mobi Fehr (USA), sacrificing the foreign striker slot.

Among the 14 participating teams, Saigon and SLNA are really playing the “foreign player gamble” when they signed 4 names: Marcelo Fernandes, Patrick Dos Santos Cruz (both from Brazil), Olaha (Nigeria), Henry (Trinidad & Tobago) in the last minutes. Meanwhile, Hanoi FC and Than Quang Ninh, because they are participating in the AFC Cup, have the advantage of being allowed to register 4 and 3 foreign players respectively.

Due to urgent recruitment, foreign players are a "gamble" for SLNA this season. Photo: AT

Currently, there are only 6 teams using only 2 foreign players: HAGL, XSKT. Can Tho, Long An, SLNA, Saigon, Khanh Hoa, do not have any naturalized players. Of these, only HAGL only uses domestic players in the attack, Mobi Fehr plays in the defense and Masaaki Ideguchi plays in the midfield.

If we want to know how well or poorly foreign players are used by teams, we will have to wait. But it can be affirmed that foreign commentators have become an indispensable part of the V-League playground!

AT