Ball control stories of foreign coaches

He said that Vietnamese football is familiar with defensive-counterattacking style of play and he wants to help the team reach new heights with an attacking style of play that focuses on ball control.

Thus, up to now, at least two foreign coaches are focusing all their efforts to bring a club and, more importantly, two national teams, including U23 Vietnam and the Vietnam National Team, to abandon the familiar playing style that brought resounding success under the reign of Park Hang-seo, to practice a new, modern playing style that is suitable for the general direction of football today.

Thus, the story of playing style or football philosophy in Vietnam continues to attract deep public attention. Obviously, choosing a new path for Vietnamese football is no longer a story for the French coach Philippe Troussier alone but also for the clubs, the foundation of a national football. The problem is that after nearly a year of searching for a new playing style and new philosophy, the French coach is having difficulty with the Vietnamese National Team, especially at the recent 2023 ASIAN Cup and Hanoi FC of both domestic and foreign coaches are also losing consecutively in the 2023/2024 V-League, so it seems that things will not be easy for the revolutionary or innovative steps of the pioneers.

In fact, the ball control style of play today or the small passes and quick attacks of the past in Vietnam is not a new story, not the first time. Saigon Port or Dong Thap at their peak were successful "models" of this style of play, but everyone knows that these names have gradually faded into the past following the steps of football from subsidized to professional. Then Hoang Anh Gia Lai once caused a terrible effect in V-League with so much hope, but in no time they went down the path of "tirelessly fighting to stay in the league"...

So all the paths of the football teams return to the familiar, easy to remember, easy to understand way of playing tight defense, counterattacking quickly. Dong Tam Long An or Song Lam Nghe An, Binh Duong or Viettel, Hanoi or Cong An Hanoi, in the end, all consider good defense, not losing first, then thinking about scoring against the opponent. Then the Vietnam National Team through the time of foreign coaches, whoever is familiar with the common playing style, whoever understands "football culture" early and thoroughly, that person is very successful, like Mr. Calistore or Mr. Park Hang-seo.

But it was not until the 3rd qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup thatVietnam teamUnder Park Hang-seo, whether we like it or not, people have realized the limits and "ceilings" of Vietnamese football when it comes to the continent and the world. The familiar playing style has been figured out, the key players can cause surprises and breakthroughs against opponents who are not present as expected. Mr. Troussier is the one who can find a suitable way, a new way of doing things, or Mr. Daiki is the "model" of the person needed to bring a top club like Hanoi FC on the right path that Vietnamese football needs to take, paving the way for the synchronous, consistent and effective steps of the entire football industry after that.

It seems that Mr. Daiki came later than Mr. Troussier, and knew the inside story of Vietnamese football when he was a player as well as the current situation after what Mr. Troussier encountered and failed to achieve, so the Japanese coach gave more realistic principles. That is "ball control, synchronization in defense and attack, and pushing the opponent back to the back of the field".

Obviously, the above foreign teachers are not wrong when they ask their students to "control the ball", because having the ball means playing football, losing the ball means losing the initiative and only looking for opportunities can they attack. The Vietnamese team and U23 Vietnam must practice a lot and have many friendly matches to progress step by step, as they have shown very well recently at the 2023 ASIAN Cup. The new thing that the Japanese teacher wants is "synchronization in defense and attack". It is easy to say but extremely difficult and troublesome to do. When facing top opponents in the continent, the Vietnamese team must worry about defense, which is inevitable. But if that is all, everything will still be the same. The problem of attacking must start from a positive state change, from the quality of the person organizing the play and the ability to kill and take advantage of opportunities of the strikers.

The current state of the defensive formation is disrupted by injuries and the form of the pillars, causing the coach to lose sleep and not be able to solve the problem in a day or two. Therefore, the story of ball control continues to be raised, because that is the way to proactively prevent, not allowing the opponent to attack, proactively finding suitable solutions in each situation and the whole match. "Pushing the opponent to the end of the field", moving the ball away from the home goal area is also a proactive way of defending from a distance. Of course, Vietnamese football has matured in terms of ball control, but the fact that there are not many good strikers is a sad reality. Here, we have to talk about the story of which formation, which diagram or which new or old playing style is not the leading deciding factor, but the problem is who is executing on the field, what is outstanding and what is good, is Quang Hai in his prime or not, is Ngoc Hai capable of playing 90 minutes at his peak or not?

To see, the story of “attacking ball control” will never end, because of the myriad of realities that must be overcome. But in the midst of common difficulties, there must be someone who goes first, dares to do like Mr. Troussier or Mr. Daiki, then everything will gradually become clear, everything will be adjusted through vivid practice to become clearer, more convincing.

Looking no further, a young team like Song Lam Nghe An today, if not equipped with the "attacking ball control" perspective, how could they have risen to defeat the strong team Meryland Quy Nhon Binh Dinh recently in round 9? It is also to see that the new, modern, proactive motto that teachers Troussie or Daiki have put forth is gradually coming into practice, in one way or another, it is beneficial for the common progress of the entire football industry, although difficulties are always lurking and opposing./.