Don't just join the trend of throwing stones.

(Baonghean)The Vietnamese national team's journey to conquer the 2016 AFF Cup came to an end after a dramatic draw at My Dinh Stadium on December 7th against Indonesia. Although they lost their ticket to the final, many experts believe that it has been a long time since they witnessed such a resilient fighting spirit from the team.

Our players achieved something nobody dared to imagine: despite being behind and at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, they didn't give up, but instead pushed the opponent into disarray, making the match increasingly dramatic and breathtaking.

In football, it's not always the better team that wins; that's precisely what makes this beautiful sport so appealing. Unfortunately, this scenario unfolded exactly as it did for the Vietnamese national team in both legs against Indonesia. To snatch the ticket from Vietnam, Coach Rield's team had to endure incredibly tense moments.

Coach Huu Thang and the Vietnamese national team players are going through difficult times after being eliminated in the semi-finals of the 2016 AFF Cup. Photo: Internet

This shows that the Vietnamese national team has made professional progress compared to recent AFF Cup tournaments. Those were times when we were eliminated in a shocking manner from the group stage, and other times when we suffered convincing defeats in the semi-finals. Veteran foreign coaches like Rield, Calisto, and more recently Miura, all had to leave after unsuccessful AFF Cup campaigns with the Vietnamese national team.

Sadly, whenever the Vietnamese national team is eliminated, regardless of the circumstances, many people don't see "winning and losing as a normal part of football" but instead mercilessly criticize the players and coach, even though they fought their hardest. This could be a case of "mob mentality," where victory is celebrated with applause and cheers as if it were their own achievement, while defeat is met with harsh, even insulting, language, treating the coach and players as if they were "criminals."

Previously, whenever the Vietnamese national team lost, to avoid repercussions, the Vietnam Football Federation would immediately dismiss the head coach. This time, seemingly understanding the issue, in the post-match press conference, Coach Rield said: "I hope that the VFF will retain Coach Huu Thang, because you often have a habit of firing coaches after defeats. Huu Thang made the right personnel decisions in today's match. The Vietnamese team was stronger and had better morale today, but lacked luck. When Indonesia opened the scoring, you fought back strongly. If you had a little more time, you could have achieved a miracle."

While foreign sports news outlets were praising the fighting spirit of the Vietnamese national team and expressing hope for a bright future for Vietnamese football with players like Xuan Truong, Minh Tuan, and Van Thanh, Vietnamese social media was flooded with harsh criticism of coach Huu Thang and the players.

This shows that those who pursue a career in football in Vietnam face immense, invisible pressure from those who "throw stones" and "talk nonsense" just to follow the trend!

Duc Dung