The worrying thing about SLNA

(Baonghean) - Coach Hoang Anh Tuan has just announced the list of 30 players for the Vietnam U20 team preparing for their historic journey at the FIFA World Cup. This list includes players currently playing in the second division as well as players currently playing in the V.League.

The club with the most participating players is Hanoi FC with 7 players: goalkeeper Sy Huy, Minh Hieu, defenders Van Hau, Van Toi, and the midfield trio Quang Hai, Minh Di, and Thai Quy; followed by Viettel, a team playing in the First Division, with 5 players, HAGL with 4 players, and Binh Dinh Club, playing in the Second Division, also contributing one player, Ho Tan Tai.

It's noteworthy that the list of 30 players doesn't include a single young player from the SLNA youth academy. This is certainly unwelcome news for Nghe An football, as this marks the first time Vietnamese youth football has participated in the world's biggest tournament, yet SLNA's young players are absent from this historic reunion.

Speaking with reporters from Nghe An Newspaper, many football experts believe that while Coach Hoang Anh Tuan may have selected players based on his playing style, these are still young players who are currently in their best form.

SLNA is a football training center with a long tradition and many contributions to the national team, but the fact that none of its players were selected for the 30-player squad of the Vietnam U20 team is regrettable and raises concerns about the current quality of youth training at SLNA.

The U20 Vietnam squad participating in the FIFA World Cup does not include any young players from SLNA. Photo: Internet

According to SLNA's leadership, the reason for the current decline in youth training is that "while we advance one step, they advance ten." Due to limited funding, the diet and benefits for young players at SLNA are not as good as those at centers like HAGL, Viettel, Hanoi, VPF, etc., so "if there are any good young players, those centers will recruit them, and only then will we get a chance." Therefore, from dominating national youth tournaments, SLNA has been empty-handed in recent years, from U11 to U21.

In an interview with a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Hong Thanh - Chairman of SLNA Club - once confided: "To elevate Vietnamese football, we must have fundamental and systematic investment from the ground up. To achieve this, we need many high-quality and reputable youth training centers like HAGL, Viettel, SLNA, Hanoi T&T… and we must socialize football to have more models like the current HAGL-Arsenal youth training center."

"With quality players, domestic leagues will become more attractive, drawing more spectators to the stadiums, and the national team will be stronger… then, the face of Vietnamese football will certainly change."

Therefore, the absence of any young SLNA players in this Vietnam U20 squad is a cause for concern regarding SLNA's first-team talent pool in the coming years. If there are no outstanding young players now, in a few years SLNA will struggle to find a successor generation capable of shouldering the responsibilities in the V.League…

Duc Dung