What can the Vietnamese national team learn from Arsenal?

(Baonghean)At 7 PM tomorrow, a friendly match between the Vietnamese national team and English club Arsenal will take place at My Dinh National Stadium. "A match of historical significance," "The players will learn a lot from the Gunners," "The Vietnamese national team will fight their hardest against Arsenal"... these are phrases frequently used by coach Hoang Van Phuc and his players recently. Clearly, not only Vietnamese fans, but also members of the national team are very excited about welcoming the stars from the English Premier League. What will the Vietnamese national team learn from Arsenal?

Many will say that the Vietnamese national team could learn a great deal from Arsenal's scientific and attractive style of play. However, haven't we already learned from them over the past dozens of Premier League seasons?

In reality, watching Arsenal on TV is a completely different experience compared to facing them in person on the pitch. There, Coach Hoang Van Phuc and the Vietnamese players will witness and practice the game firsthand. However, until the match begins, it remains a question of what lineup Arsenal will use and at what level of intensity they will play. Not to mention, if Arsenal decides to play aggressively, the Vietnamese team will almost certainly suffer a heavy defeat (like when Arsenal thrashed the Indonesian All-Stars 7-0, for example), and then there will be no mental capacity left to learn from their opponents.

In recent statements, both coach Hoang Van Phuc and the players affirmed that they will mature significantly after this historic match. It's natural that we say this whenever we face big teams, but the results are often the opposite.

The Vietnamese players are training for the match against Arsenal.

To date, five world-renowned clubs and one national Olympic team have come to Vietnam to compete. These clubs are: Juventus (Italy, 1996), Porto B (Portugal, 2004), Barcelona B (Spain, 2005), Olympiakos (Greece, 2009), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany, 2010), and the Brazilian Olympic team (2008). The results of these matches for the Vietnamese national team were mixed; we won and lost, but our team didn't play any better or achieve any better results. There was one exception: after a historic friendly match against the Brazilian Olympic team in mid-2008, the Vietnamese national team won the AFF Cup later that year. However, Vietnamese football at the national team level declined in the following years with consecutive failures in the SEA Games and AFF Cup.

Recently, coach Hoang Van Phuc announced a list of over 30 players for the Vietnamese national team. Looking at this list, many people believe that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and Mr. Phuc have given players an opportunity to "celebrate" away, as there are too many players who have lost form, are injured, or have previously refused to join the national team. Only after the press spoke out was the list narrowed down to 23 players, but with the remaining players like Minh Phuong, Chi Cong, Phuoc Tu, Vu Phong..., everyone can clearly see that it is a tribute to the generation that achieved the miracle at the 2008 AFF Cup.

For most players, perhaps the only honor is facing the Gunners for the first time, and it's unlikely they'll "mature" after just 90 minutes of a friendly match tomorrow night. Meanwhile, it's important to understand that Arsenal's visit to Vietnam is for commercial purposes, to build and develop their image in a country with only 20,000 loyal fans, not to help the Vietnamese national team improve, and certainly not to help Vietnamese football develop. Perhaps, this event will create a boost for Vietnam to welcome other big clubs in the future.

So what can the Vietnamese national team learn from Arsenal's three-day tour? First, we can learn about Arsenal's professionalism. The team from England has a long, packed schedule, not to mention overloaded. However, the players certainly won't refuse any activity in each country they visit. From how to utilize their time for rest, training, matches, and socializing… everything must be scientific and disciplined. Arsenal prioritizes promoting its image through meaningful activities. This is something the Vietnamese national team, and Vietnamese football in general, needs to learn.

In short, what we learn from Arsenal depends entirely on how the Vietnamese national team perceives their opponent. We should learn from the smallest things, instead of expecting a friendly match, which is essentially an exhibition game, to help us grow or promote the development of our football.

Mai Anh