Beware of falling behind

(Baonghean) - For a long time, whenever talking about youth football training centers in Vietnam, people cannot help but mention SLNA. However, after the impressive performance of U19 Vietnam, whose core is players who grew up from HAGL JMG Football Academy, all attention has begun to focus on the mountain town...

Since the early 90s of the last century, while most football clubs in Vietnam recruited players from amateur football, SLNA soon had a new direction: building a youth football training system from U11 to U21 to create a source of successor players. Thanks to that, from 2000 to now, Nghe An football team not only does not have to hire players from other localities to compete but also provides an abundant source for many football clubs across the country.

For more than 10 consecutive years, there has never been a year when the national team participated in international tournaments without the stars who grew up from the Nghe An football training center. The dedication of SLNA to the whole of Vietnamese football over the years is undeniable. The SLNA youth football training center has become a model for localities across the country to learn from for many years. The young players as well as the SLNA first team have brought glory to Nghe An countless times with Gold Cups from domestic tournaments.

SLNA players at the National U19 Football Tournament - Ton Hoa Sen Cup 2013. Photo: TTVN

In fact, in recent years, SLNA youth teams are no longer "dominating" domestic youth football tournaments like before, and SLNA's training center is gradually starting to show its limitations.

It can be seen that the current youth training model of SLNA is almost no different from 10 years ago. Still the method of selecting athletes with old tests based mainly on the subjective feelings of the coach; still managing athletes by completely entrusting them to the coaching staff of the teams; still the old-fashioned method of teaching football... Almost U11 as well as U13, U15, U17 or U19 and U21, all learn the same lesson without any change according to age.

Due to the unscientific initial method of selecting young athletes and poor management and education of athletes, SLNA has to eliminate many young athletes every year for reasons of "not meeting professional requirements" or "violating discipline". Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia - Deputy General Director of SLNA Football Joint Stock Company also admitted: "Each class of athletes, when recruited from U11 and U13, has about 40 players, but later only about 5 or 6 players mature". Without such a guarantee of the future, fewer and fewer parents dare to send their children to SLNA Club and many talented players have missed the opportunity to become professional players. In recent national youth football tournaments, SLNA's U-13 youth teams have not won as many championship cups as before...

In contrast to SLNA, HAGL JMG Football Academy has only been established for 6 years, but thanks to applying a modern model and very scientific methods, the athlete elimination rate is very low.

Firstly, the input stage, thanks to the selection of athletes with real qualities and good training, they continue to develop their talents so they are less likely to be eliminated for professional reasons.

Second, the management of athletes is extremely professional, with a scientific schedule, from cultural studies, football lessons to healthy living and entertainment time. Athletes are respected and fully guaranteed personal rights, so there are few cases of disciplinary violations to the point of having to return to their families. That creates trust from parents when sending their children to HAGL JMG Football Academy.

A typical example is the case of player Nguyen Cong Phuong, one of the outstanding players of U19 Vietnam in the recent U19 Southeast Asian Championship (Phuong is from Do Luong and was recruited by SLNA but then fired, 1 year later, Phuong and his father packed their bags and joined HAGL and were trained and nurtured by this Academy to become what they are now). The third thing is that the training method of players at HAGL JMG Football Academy is also very different from SLNA. Nguyen Cong Phuong shared: “The Academy has a training curriculum for players from 13 to 19 years old. Each age has its own training method. Before the age of 14, players always have to practice barefoot to practice the feeling of the ball, after the age of 14 they can wear shoes. From the age of 16, the coach mainly teaches technical skills and tactical thinking, rarely lets them compete, and only when they are 17 and older do they start practicing physical exercises and participating in friendly matches.”

Although it has not lost its role as the number 1 youth training center of the country's football, and continues to produce many excellent players every year, SLNA needs to innovate in all aspects soon, and should even study at HAGL JMG Academy, if it does not want to fall behind.

Hoang Hao