Brazilian fitness coach leaves before U22 Vietnam gathers
Brazilian fitness coach Willander Fonseca said goodbye to Vietnamese football a few days before the U22 Vietnam team gathered to prepare for the 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers in Hanoi.
After returning from the U22 Southeast Asian tournament, Brazilian fitness coach Willander Fonseca officially ended his contract with Vietnamese football. Mr. Fonseca's contract with VFF is short-term, valid for the 2019 Asian Cup and the 2020 U22 Southeast Asian tournament.
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| Fitness coach Willander Fonseca is smart.gstill attached to Vietnamese football. Photo:Minh Chien |
The Brazilian coach asked the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to temporarily suspend his work to attend the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) coaching license course in Cambodia.
Coach Fonseca's offer came suddenly right before the 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers in Hanoi. Mr. Fonseca himself wanted to stick with Vietnamese football and attend that course. What this coach needed was an agreement allowing him to return to the Vietnamese team after the course in Cambodia.
VFF could not accept that offer, because it would greatly affect the preparation process of coach Park Hang-seo and his team. The two sides decided to part ways, Mr. Fonseca will no longer be the fitness coach of the Vietnamese team.
This is the second time in the past few months that Coach Park's coaching staff has lost a fitness coach. Previously, assistant Bae Ji-won resigned from the Vietnam national team after winning the 2018 AFF Cup. Coach Fonseca replaced him in December. The 2019 Asian Cup and the 2019 Southeast Asian U22 Championship are his first two tournaments with Vietnamese football.
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| Coach Fonseca shows off the bronze medal he won with U22 Vietnam at the Southeast Asian tournament. Photo:Instagram character. |
VFF is urgently looking for a replacement for coach Fonseca. The team's coaching staff is currently lacking two positions: fitness coach and interpreter. General Secretary Le Hoai Anh said the federation has identified a number of interpreters, but is still negotiating and will try to finalize contracts as soon as possible. The U22 Vietnam team is expected to gather on March 6, while the qualifying round will take place at the end of the month.
Previously, U22 Vietnam added coach Dinh Hong Vinh to the assistant team. The team will also have a Korean coach next May.
The 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers will take place from March 22 to March 26 at My Dinh Stadium. Vietnam U22 will face Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand. The goal of coach Park Hang-seo and his team is to pass the qualifiers and win tickets to the final round in Thailand in January 2020.