Does Mr. Troussier not like the young team of Song Lam Nghe An?

That means all the attention will be on the young players under 22 years old, that is, born from 01/01/2001 onwards. Of course, these are the ones who have also participated in the SEA Games, even participated in the U19, U20, U21 regional and continental tournaments, the most outstanding talents of youth football today.

The issue that is attracting attention is that those within the allowed age will be called, screened through the steps of familiarization, training, intensive training and foreign training by Mr. Troussier and the coaching staff. It will be excellent faces from the youth training centers of Hanoi, Viettel, PVF, Song Lam Nghe An, Hoang Anh Gia Lai... or any young factor from any V-League 1 or V-League 2 team, as long as they contribute to creating a strong team as Mr. Troussier once said.

Coach Philippe Troussier. Photo: VTC

Currently, Mr. Troussier has not announced any list, all are just predictions from experts and the media based on what he has done before. Accordingly, the advantage is leaning towards the players he called up to the U18 training camp in 2020, then had a promotion process under Mr. Park Hang-seo or Mr. Gong Oh Kyun such as Van Khang, Tien Long, Minh Tung, Van Chuan... Also according to previous information, it seems that Mr. Troussier once did not... like to use players from Song Lam Nghe An? That was the time he called up the U18 training camp in 2020, even though that generation of players had won the U17 national championship, were voted the best of the tournament like Canh Tiep or Van Bach? Then there was also a time he only called up Manh Quynh, a Song Lam player who was on loan to PVF...

The public has more than once asked the French coach frankly why this "strange story" happened and he has also answered specifically. In fact, this is a strategist with a long-term, broad, fundamental vision, determined not to "build a house from the roof" as his predecessor A. Riedl previously commented. He firmly started from the foundation of youth training, using the youth to train, nurture, gradually inherit and rise to mastery, fulfilling the assigned tasks. The success of Japanese football before 2000 and later had the great efforts of this strategist.

Coach Troussier faces many challenges when taking the "hot seat" left by Mr. Park Hang-seo. Photo: Anh Doan

When he came to Vietnam, regarding youth training, he once mentioned having about 100 players for the entire training and selection process, serving specific steps as required. He successively called the U18 group together with the first batch, including good players from teams that did not make it to the national finals that year, the second batch were the excellent players from the U19 finals and the third batch would be the players targeted for further steps... Therefore, there was a time when the furnaceLam River Nghe An4 players were called, the next time 6 players but the next time no one was there, causing questions and concerns? The French coach made it clear: He does not care about any of the academy players and it is also possible that the number of players not called the next time is because they are not suitable, although they always have the opportunity to be called the next time...

So it is clear that the coach will gradually "look at the face, judge the form" and then can monitor more, can eliminate, meaning a process of continuous movement, with the door always open for those who want to improve. Therefore, the young team of Song Lam Nghe An has every hope when they are still at the age to participate in the SEA Games such as Van Viet (goalkeeper), Khac Luong, Van Cuong, Nam Hai, Van Huy, Van Thanh, Manh Quynh, Xuan Binh, Xuan Tien, Van Bach, Xuan Dai, Van Luong... Young players who regularly compete in the V-League such as Nam Hai, Xuan Tien, Manh Quynh, Van Cuong... will have more opportunities than other colleagues. Of course, the process of concentration and training will "break" many things, there will be fierce competition between positions so it is not easy to stay until the final list as we all know.

In fact, at the 31st SEA Games, the number of young players from Song Lam Nghe An who were called up was not small, but they gradually dropped out until the tournament started. That is reasonable and objective in the coaching staff's assessment of any young player, at any training center. Of course, it is possible that this time the young players from Song Lam Nghe An brought their own advantages, those Mr. Troussier knew such as Khac Luong, Manh Quynh, Xuan Tien, Van Cuong or most recently Nam Hai. Perhaps, they will be on the first list, but how long they will last is a very difficult question to answer?