After Troussier, where is Vietnamese football going?

The first task is to find and select a good captain who understands Vietnamese culture and football, which means he is suitable for the development direction of the entire football industry, the media and the fan community. The long-term task is to build and maintain a professional, high-quality V.League alongside a fundamental, scientific and modern youth training system with high competition, combined with sending many talented players abroad to compete...

It is easy to see, it is easy to say but extremely difficult to practice, arduous and full of obstacles from both objective and subjective factors. First of all, who is good, has a reputation in the international "market", who is sure to understand Vietnamese culture and the inside story of Vietnamese football? Currently, people have put forward a list of nearly ten coaches, both domestic and foreign, but surely, Vietnamese football cannot/has not been able to succeed immediately with a domestic or foreign coach for many different reasons?

Outstanding domestic factors such as Hoang Anh Tuan, Vu Hong Viet, Huynh Duc, Chu Dinh Nghiem... can be successful with a young team, a team with potential and ambition, but "taking over" the national team is a completely different story. In particular, not daring to take on the responsibility, or taking on the responsibility but quickly failing before that is the "curse" that makes these domestic coaches falter right from the... parking lot. That leads to the fact that these people can only be "temporary people" like Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan with U23 Vietnam, or others cleverly refuse because they are "busy with work at the club" like Huynh Duc, Dinh Nghiem or Hong Viet...

The current foreign candidates being considered include Park Hang-seo, Kiatisuk, Polking, Gong Oh-kyun, Popov... and they all have their own advantages thanks to their understanding of V.League, their students, the media and fans. Certainly, whoever takes on the position of captain of the Vietnam National Team will be trusted and hoped for, thanks to the practice and results they have brought so far. Of course, the process of finding a foreign coach will continue and there will be many new candidates, many new details to wait for. It seems that it is very difficult for any foreign coach to immediately meet the development or improvement requirements of Vietnamese football at this time, because compared to the regional level, compared to the current working method, Vietnamese football is gradually falling behind and cannot "brake" in time as we are seeing.

Therefore, the leaders of the Vietnam Football Federation as well as an ordinary fan understand that the important thing now is to take care, to work practically and effectively to raise the level of professional football, to take care of youth training to "build the foundation" for the long process... Besides sending good players to compete abroad, there is the naturalization of overseas Vietnamese players, not massively and easily, but also avoiding raising them up and putting them down like before.

Obviously, after the failure of the Vietnam National Team in the 2023 Asian Cup and the 2nd Qualifying Round of the 2026 World Cup, Vietnamese football cannot be satisfied with the old way of doing things, cannot rely on the 5-year cycle of success under Park Hang-seo as a fragile support, and cannot rely on a "golden generation" that has become "bored" with football and has lost motivation since the end of Park Hang-seo's time. The lessons left by foreign coaches, especially Philippe Troussier, about hastily renewing while "breaking away" from the success of Park Hang-seo's time, about the lack of trust from old pillars, over-trusting young factors... will still have long-term value in the process of stabilizing and regaining the position of the entire football industry.

Currently, V.League 1 and 2 will be the "data warehouse" for planners to build a new framework for the Vietnam National Team and U23 Vietnam. The old outstanding factors, those who have lost motivation will have to give way to new factors, with more opportunities and expectations. Young factors must of course continue to train and compete to mature, to be entrusted and trusted. Remember, whether they want to come here or not, it will not be only Nguyen Filip or Van Lam who are overseas Vietnamese players who have a place in the national team, but there will be a series of new factors that will be summoned and trusted.

To see, it will be an interesting and attractive competition, there will be people up, there will be people down as usual. Of course, any fair competition is beneficial for Vietnamese football, beneficial for those who are determined and have real ability. The way Indonesia did it, the goals that tore Nguyen Filip's net from the naturalized stars of the opponent side actually "torn our hearts" and made us unable to delay or retreat in this new context.