Football stars and the story of 'working hard for the national team'
(Baonghean.vn) - Vietnamese football has gone through the "success cycle" of the Park Hang-seo era and is entering a period of renewal and re-creation under Mr. Philippe Troussier.
The most obvious thing is that only a few of the previous key players are retained and many of them are going through the "painful" process of having to reinvent themselves and renew themselves in order to have the opportunity to be assigned new responsibilities in the near future.
The most worth-watching opening match of the 2023-2024 National Cup between Hanoi Police and LPBank Hoang Anh Gia Lai, many people are waiting for the debut of former head coach of U23 Vietnam Gong Oh-kyun and the performance of the pillars of the old and new Vietnam National Team in this team. Immediately, this Korean coach surprised everyone with his new choice of lineup: full-back Ho Tan Tai, who was removed from the Vietnam National Team by Mr. Troussier, played as a central midfielder instead of Van Toan as Mr. Troussier used this young player in the Vietnam National Team, besides bringing in other new factors such as Ngoc Thang, Gia Hung... Fortunately, in the new position, Tan Tai at least met the requirements and the hope of returning to the Vietnam National Team is bright again. The story of Van Thanh's recent return and trust in the Vietnam National Team will certainly help Tan Tai "clarify" many things?
In fact, the need to renew and remake teams always happens anytime, anywhere. Remember at the 2022 AFC U23 Championship, coach Gong Oh-kyun also did not do the same as his predecessor Park Hang-seo when he did not use the familiar 3-5-3 defensive-counterattack formation, even though the U23 Vietnam team had won the SEA Games before as an ideal "model"... That is the way to rotate and use many formations, because everyone knows that Park Hang-seo's playing style brings success but is almost being... figured out. And in this unsuccessful tournament, at least coach Gong Oh-kyun also helped discover a series of young factors such as Dinh Tung, Van Xuan, Van Khang... and helped the players meet the diverse playing style that Vietnamese football in the new period is posing.
And even the current head coach of the Vietnam National Team and U23 Vietnam, Mr. Philippe Troussier, although still operating the 3-5-2 formation, clearly has a much different playing style and players than before. Not giving up on defense-counterattack, especially against strong opponents of continental stature, but Vietnamese football must gradually perfect the "ball control attack" style of play, because holding the ball and keeping it firmly in place can take the initiative in all attack options and minimize the opponent's counterattacks. It's easy to say but extremely difficult to do. But Mr. Troussier has persisted in this point of view, despite many failures and obstacles, despite having to accept the temporary elimination of many stars such as Tan Tai, Hung Dung, Hoang Duc, Van Thanh...
Recently, in the match in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup against strong opponent Iraq, despite losing the match in the last minute of injury time, the fact that the Vietnamese team achieved a ball control rate of up to 48% was a remarkable success and that helped Van Lam's goal to be less "bombarded" than in many previous matches. This result came from the coach boldly using a series of young factors such as Thai Son, Minh Trong, Tuan Tai, Van Cuong, Van Khang... even though they had not experienced many international matches as they were used to.
During the process of gathering the Vietnam National Team for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, Mr. Troussier continuously experimented with Tien Anh as a right-back, Hoang Duc as a false striker... to create a new look for the team as well as each individual player. Any coach, when choosing, will look for versatile players whose playing style fits the entire system.
The French coach actually recently did something "unprecedented" by affirming that Hoang Duc is not suitable for the style of play he set out, lacking the effort to improve even though this star could once again win the Vietnam Golden Ball this season 2023? Hoang Duc's beautiful playing style when passing people, when dribbling the ball or having brilliant passes, which has long been highly appreciated by many people, turns out to not be suitable for the playing style of the Vietnam National Team in the process of rebuilding and renewing. The French coach does not accept the slow playing style, causing the whole team to lose rhythm, and can make regrettable mistakes like the way Hoang Duc showed in the friendly match against the Chinese National Team (lost 0-2) before. Similarly, Mr. Park Hang-seo also did not use Van Quyet in the Vietnam National Team, even though this player was once considered the best striker at the moment, having won the Vietnam Golden Ball twice...
The story of renewing and remaking the force and playing style of the Vietnam National Team will continue, for a long time and bring many unexpected and interesting developments. No one is sure that Hoang Duc, Hung Dung or Tan Tai will naturally be used in the Vietnam National Team when they continue to achieve high performance at the club, because there is a "history" of Mr. Troussier "permanently cutting" Japanese football stars in the past and always waiting for a series of young factors to progress every day. Of course, the door of the national team is always open, welcoming stars who always make great efforts, always know how to do it again, renew themselves. Hopefully Hoang Duc and many other key factors can say and do as the message just sent out "Always strive for this shirt" - the shirt of the Vietnam National Team! ./.
