Cong Vinh was left out of the Vietnam national team list.

Head of the National Teams Department Truong Hai Tung has just confirmed that Le Cong Vinh is not on the list of the Vietnam national team's training camp on November 8. Mr. Tung said that the Vietnam national team's coaching staff had proposed not to call up the striker who is playing football in Japan to join the Vietnam national team and the VFF agreed.

“Cong Vinh is currently injured,” said Mr. Truong Hai Tung, “But the reason why Cong Vinh is not on the list this time lies in another aspect. In the match against Uzbekistan, Sapporo agreed to release Cong Vinh, but the time was too short so this striker had too little time with the Vietnam team.”

“Therefore, the effectiveness that Cong Vinh created for the Vietnam team was not as expected. If VFF continued to ask Sapporo to let Cong Vinh play for the Vietnam team, the club would certainly agree, but the time would still be as short as the previous training session. Therefore, the effectiveness was questioned again, so we decided not to call Cong Vinh.”

Cong Vinh does not have a place in the Vietnam national team training session this time.

Without Cong Vinh's name on the list of players, the Vietnamese team has 23 players, including 4 newly added faces including 2 midfielders Tan Tai, Nguyen Sa and 2 goalkeepers Tan Truong, To Vinh Loi. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Buu Ngoc and midfielder Le Van Thang were returned to the U23 Vietnam team to focus on the final stage of the 27th SEA Games campaign. Coach Nguyen Van Sy said that the Vietnamese team does not need to add more strikers, because currently the duo Anh Duc and Quang Hai are enough for the Vietnamese team to choose from.

The decision not to call Cong Vinh back to the Vietnam national team shows some disappointment in this striker. Because Cong Vinh joined the Vietnam national team late in the match against Uzbekistan, this striker could only play from the bench. But Cong Vinh's contribution was too little compared to expectations, especially when CV9 received a big "special privilege" from coach Nguyen Van Sy.

With his exclusion from the Vietnam national team, Cong Vinh can devote all his energy to serving Sapporo FC. However, at this time, the Nghe An striker is suffering from an ankle injury and will definitely be absent from Sapporo's away match against Kyoto Sanga. There is also news that Sapporo FC wants to extend his contract and stay in Japan to continue contributing to the team in the 2014 season.

However, SLNA General Director Nguyen Hong Thanh has rejected this possibility, because according to Mr. Thanh, SLNA will definitely not release Cong Vinh anymore. After parting ways with Trong Hoang, Van Binh, Au Van Hoan…, SLNA is aiming for Cong Vinh as a replacement “symbol” at Vinh Stadium in V-League. Cong Vinh himself also revealed that he wants to return to play in V-League 2014 for SLNA, instead of wandering around playing for hire in the land of the rising sun.

According to the plan, the Vietnamese team will gather in Hanoi on November 8. A week later, the Vietnamese team will meet Uzbekistan again at My Dinh Stadium on the evening of November 15, before visiting the UAE in the penultimate match of the group stage on November 19. Currently, the Vietnamese team is empty-handed after 3 matches, with very little chance of winning a ticket to the 2015 Asian Cup finals.

According to VOV