'Revisionism' in Vietnamese football

(Baonghean.vn) - As soon as the match between U20 Vietnam and U20 Honduras in Korea ended, back home there was a series of criticism directed at coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team.

In the past, people said that every citizen in Brazil was a coach, a football expert. But now, the same situation has appeared in Vietnam. It is completely normal, because if there is love and admiration, the audience will be sad, criticize and angry when their team loses.

However, not all criticism comes from an impartial or constructive point of view, but rather contains resentment, suppression and the denial of other people's achievements with specific motives and purposes.

In the criticism directed at the Vietnam U20 team, VFF Vice President Doan Nguyen Duc is noteworthy. Speaking to the media, the owner of HAGL Club did not hesitate to make an assessment: “Who said coach Hoang Anh Tuan is good? A coach that no one in the country takes advantage of, if he was good, they would definitely have invited him. For example, Huynh Duc and Huu Thang are not unemployed, let alone paid high salaries. So we have to look back at where we are. Tuan is not a good coach...”.

Despite their impressive performance, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team still received a lot of criticism and disparagement. Photo: Internet.

If Mr. Duc was just the boss of HAGL, no one would care, but Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc is the vice president of VFF. Criticizing Hoang Anh Tuan as 'not a good coach' and 'unemployed' is no different than Mr. Duc criticizing VFF and criticizing his position in the highest body of Vietnamese football.

If coach Hoang Anh Tuan is 'not good', why did VFF trust the strategist from Khanh Hoa to manage U19 Vietnam and U20 Vietnam for the past 3 years? Why didn't we hear anything from Mr. Duc before?

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan is 'not good' but U20 Vietnam naturally qualified for the U20 World Cup 2017. Remember, in the history of Southeast Asian football, only U20 Myanmar has done that exactly 2 years ago (2015). 1 point won against U20 New Zealand in the first match (or even 3 points) is a feat that is not easy for the remaining representatives in the 'football depression' to do in the near future. That credit belongs to the entire U20 Vietnam team, and the person who deserves the most honor is none other than Coach Hoang Anh Tuan.

However, VFF Vice President Doan Nguyen Duc said: "Overall, U20 Vietnam played well. The good thing here is that the players come from quality training schools such as Viettel, Hanoi, HAGL, not because of good coaches."

Surely Mr. Duc still hasn't forgotten that more than a year ago he boldly declared: "Let me simply say one sentence, Vietnamese football without Coach Miura will never develop." At that time, he believed that Coach Miura's conservatism and outdated philosophy were holding back the development of Vietnamese football.

To put it bluntly, Mr. Duc's implication is nothing more than that if the coach is bad (Coach Miura), no matter how good the players are, they cannot achieve success. However, Mr. Duc now considers the success of U20 Vietnam to be thanks to good players, not because 'Coach Hoang Anh Tuan is not good'.

If you downplay the role of the coach, then why did you replace coach Graechen with coach Nguyen Quoc Tuan at the end of V. League 2015 to save HAGL from relegation? Didn't you always praise and glorify Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Tuan Anh... endlessly?

Besides the criticism of VFF Vice President Doan Nguyen Duc, many fans and experts expressed their disappointment with coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team. Witnessing the difference in class between the U20 Vietnam players and the U20 France players, many people criticized the performance of Bui Tien Dung and his teammates.

For example, 'if you play like that, go back to herding buffalo', 'it's a waste of food'... Sadly, those bitter words only appeared after the U20 Vietnam players lost the match.

The Vice President of VFF is the one who most strongly criticizes Coach Hoang Anh Tuan. Photo: Internet.

Not only that, at the end of the second half of the match with U20 Honduras, many Vietnamese players were exhausted and could not perform at high intensity, then immediately on the internet appeared merciless criticisms, such as: 'you can't even tie a chicken and you want to play in the World Cup', 'you're not old enough, go back and bathe in the village pond'... A series of criticisms and insults continuously appeared in the indifference and apathy towards the sweat and efforts of coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team. Criticism should also be cultured and humane.

Criticism is good, but it must be done on a constructive basis to find the most useful solution, not with spiteful, jealous and ungrateful actions. Dissecting the shortcomings and mistakes of the Vietnam U20 team is to help Vietnamese football develop more, instead of being resentful, personal and in a 'revisionist' manner.

Thanh Hung