SEA Games 29 and the football gold medal 'mission'

(Baonghean.vn) - In 2017, Coach Huu Thang's most important task at the 29th SEA Games - 2017 is to bring the men's football team to the final match in Malaysia.

The dream of winning the SEA Games men's football gold medal is truly an obsession for millions of Vietnamese fans. For Mr. Duc, it is also the honor of a famous boss who has won countless glories, except for investing in football. So he once decided to cut down dozens of hectares of rubber trees near the harvest date to win this gold medal.

Expected

Obviously, too much expectation was placed on "Mr. Duc's children" who started to become famous at the age of U.19, so when the host country of the 29th SEA Games, Malaysia, proposed to let the U.21 players compete at the SEA Games instead of the U.23 players as before, the VFF reacted immediately.

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Vice President of Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and also head of AFF's competition committee is the one who came up with the "reconciliation" idea of ​​using the U.22 players at the SEA Games.

An idea unlike any other, but according to Mr. Tuan, it has the legacy in FIFA's competition system. Instead of choosing the U.21 team to play at the 29th SEA Games, countries should use the U.22 team to ensure continuity and have a roadmap for countries to prepare their forces.

With the title of head of the AFF competition committee, Mr. Tuan's proposal was soon accepted by representatives of the countries participating in the SEA Games, even though they understood very well why such a "strange" thing happened.

HAGL will be the core of U22 Vietnam attending SEA Games 29.

VFF's calculation is very simple. People just calculate that Thailand is the leading country in the region, so if they surpass Thailand, they will be the leader in Southeast Asia. And the first sweet fruit of the season is the U.19 generation of Mr. Duc 3-4 years ago, almost every time they want to win against Thailand, they win. The young team from Pho Nui not only won in Southeast Asia and Asia but also won in the international U.21 tournament in the age handicap situation.

Recalling the image 3 years ago, "Mr. Duc's children" in Can Tho won a resounding 3-0 victory over the Thai youth team in the final match. At that time, people rushed onto the field to hug Mr. Duc, happily thinking that they had overcome Thailand and dreamed of a SEA Games gold medal.

People have shallowly thought that the success of the first training batch of the Football Academy alone can elevate the entire football industry. Letting HAGL Arsenal JMG's first batch of students "surf" through university to become football bachelors, giving full authority to Mr. Duc to choose a coach to lead the national team and U22 team to participate in the SEA Games, and the overseas trips of players being loudly praised in the press...

Back to Earth

First of all, it must be affirmed that HAGL Arsenal JMG also introduced many high-class players, such as midfielder Xuan Truong, a leader in the middle of the field with unmistakable passes. There are Van Thanh, Van Toan with increasingly perfect running steps, maturing over the years, there is still hope for Tuan Anh (currently recovering from injury)...

But countries in the region do not have to sit still and wait. While Vietnam only relies on one academy of Mr. Duc, Thailand has established countless academies. Young Thai players have been trained and competed in the professional, high-quality Thai-League environment. The President of the Myanmar Football Federation, the powerful billionaire Zaw Zaw, in addition to sending young players to Europe for training, has also built many youth training facilities.

Looking at the results of the AFF Cup 2016 and the U.21 International Finals - Thanh Nien Newspaper, we will have the opportunity to compare the preparation process of the opponents and U22 Vietnam. If we are enthusiastically going step by step, the opponents with their professional football style have gone quite far, even though they are not noisy.

The fact that the General Department of Sports and Physical Training has reduced the target, only setting the goal of reaching the final of the men's football SEA Games 29 for Coach Huu Thang and his team is considered a positive and appropriate move. This is not simply a step backwards but a warning for Vietnamese football leaders. To reach high levels, we must have a good foundation, which means we need to have many models like HAGL Arsenal JMG located in Hanoi, SLNA, Ho Chi Minh City...

AT