VFF, stories that are never old

At the 29th SEA Games football summary meeting on September 12, 2017, VFF agreed that the mistake leading to the defeat of U22 Vietnam was due to the mistakes of Coach Huu Thang and the coaching staff in coordinating personnel, distributing physical strength as well as poor mental preparation leading to individual mistakes. Huu Thang immediately “reacted”, as the coach, he had to take responsibility for the team’s failure.

But when it comes to the whole preparation process, he is not convinced because no one informed him about this. VFF did not invite Huu Thang to stay and attend the press conference after the experience review session on September 12. That is why VFF said one thing but now coach Huu Thang says another, in the end, who is right and who is wrong, everyone is silent.

"The monk says the monk is right, the monk says the monk is good"

Recently, the news that language assistant Le Huy Khoa intends to withdraw from participating in the AFF Cup 2018 with the Vietnam team has received much attention. Simply put, the success of the U23 Vietnam team at the U23 Asian Cup 2018 and the Vietnam Olympic team at the ASIAD 2018, has the contribution of this Korean interpreter, who knows English, Chinese and is knowledgeable about football.

The problem arose from an exchange session, the assistant's sharing on the TV talk show "U23 - We need to fail to grow up" revealed the book "U23 - Untold Stories" of which he is the author.

Book "U23 - untold stories".

Mr. Le Huy Khoa was accused of revealing many behind-the-scenes stories of the national team such as why Cong Phuong had to sit on the bench in the third-place match of the Asian Games against the UAE, or that Coach Park Hang-seo would soon call up 45 players for the AFF Cup 2018 - something that only the VFF has the authority to announce. Unable to bear the gossip (from someone), Mr. Khoa proactively announced his withdrawal from the position of language assistant for Coach Park Hang-seo.

Now the question that everyone really needs to be publicly announced by VFF: Did Mr. Khoa violate the team's speaking regulations or the contract signed between the two parties? Did Mr. Khoa ask permission from VFF - the only organization holding the team's commercial rights - before publishing the book "U23 - Untold Stories"?

After investigation, VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh revealed that the contract does have provisions on information that needs to be kept confidential, but he did not confirm that Mr. Khoa violated it. Regarding the book publication, Giao Thong Newspaper said that Mr. Khoa received a "nod" from VFF leaders. That means, in theory, Mr. Khoa is not wrong?!

Need clear black and white

So basically, he is doing his job well, fully conveying messages from the coaching staff to the players and vice versa. Coach Park has no complaints, VFF leaders do not "blow the whistle", so Mr. Khoa has no reason to shirk his duties.

If there is an individual VFF official who said "slanderous" words, VFF and Mr. Khoa also need to clarify, who said it, what is right or wrong? If Mr. Khoa violated the contract, it also needs to be clarified, if this harms the team, it is normal for Mr. Khoa not to continue participating in the work.

Or simply, Mr. Khoa is not wrong, but facing public pressure, his resignation needs to be confirmed rather than letting everything sink into "scary silence" as VFF has been doing for so long.

The concept of sharing information with business information with sensitive job positions is sometimes not subject to legal regulations but is regulated by public opinion and professional ethics.

The success of U23 Vietnam and Olympic Vietnam is thanks to a team of professional and well-coordinated coaches. From now on, if the coaching staff of the Vietnam national team wants to operate smoothly, they should not make any changes. The parties involved should put aside their egos for the common good because experience shows that each position in the team is a link, any change can cause the machine that is moving forward to stop.

Catcosan Vinh