Coach Philippe Troussier's football vision when assigned the responsibility by VFF
(Baonghean.vn) - "I am the head coach of the Vietnam U19 team, so I think I am also an assistant to Mr. Park Hang-seo. I hope the Vietnam U19 team will be as successful as the national team" - Coach Philippe Troussier shared on the day he took over as coach of the Vietnam U19 team.
After failing at the 2019 Southeast Asian U18 tournament, coach Hoang Anh Tuan resigned. VFF chose Technical Director Philippe Troussier of PVF Football Training Center as head coach of Vietnam U19.
The humble teacher
The fact that French coach Philippe Troussier called himself “Park Hang-seo’s assistant” surprised many people. Because he had a more impressive record than the Korean coach, having led the teams of Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Qatar, and Morocco.
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| Head coach of Vietnam U19 Philippe Troussier on the day of his inauguration. |
This teacher was also the head coach of the South African team competing in the 1998 World Cup. Besides, he also made great contributions to Japanese football when he helped the Japanese team win the 2000 Asian Cup, pass the group stage of the 2002 World Cup, and help the Japanese Olympic team reach the quarterfinals of the 2000 Olympics...
It is known that Mr. Troussier will take on the position of head coach of U19 Vietnam from September to the end of November 2019. The goal is to bring the U19 Vietnam team past the group stage and to the 2020 AFC U19 Championship.
Immediately after Coach Troussier took office, the French coach did something unprecedented at the national team level and introduced a list of 14 assistants, more than the entire staff assisting Mr. Park at the National Team. In the list of assistants announced by VFF, there are 4 foreign coaches: Moulay Azzeggouarh (assistant head coach), Cedric Roger (fitness coach), Abderrahmen Sahbi Mejbri (fitness coach), Adrien Diouf (medical expert).
First impression
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| In his resume, Coach Troussier has coached in more than 200 international matches. |
The first mark that “White Witch” Troussier brought was helping U19 Vietnam win the runner-up position in the friendly tournament Bangkok Cup 2019. We only lost narrowly 1-2 to strong opponents Korea in the final match. Before that, coach Philippe Troussier and his team defeated host U19 Thailand.
Recently, U19 Vietnam had a 2-1 victory over the European representative U19 Sarajevo in an international friendly match..U19 FK Sarajevo is the youth team of FK Sarajevo, a club owned by businessman Nguyen Hoai Nam, which has just won the Bosnia & Herzegovina professional league. They are a team of very young players with very good physique and fitness, arguably superior to Vietnamese players of the same age.
It is worth noting that Coach Troussier arranged the starting lineup according to the 3-4-3 formation that Coach Park Hang-seo is applying for U23 and Vietnam National Team. The fact that Coach Troussier is also willing to let U19 Vietnam play a unified formation with their seniors is highly appreciated by experts. The admirable thing is that in just 1 month of working, he has helped young Vietnamese players to play football with a lot of confidence.
“Against the big opponents from Europe, the U19 Vietnam players played well, fearlessly, in sync, tightly, strongly and without hesitation throughout the 90 minutes. They have improved a lot compared to 3 weeks ago. I want the players to continue to dream, continue to be confident and try, so I waited until the last minute to announce the list," coach Philippe Troussier shared.
From November 4 to 10, the Vietnam U19 team will participate in the 2020 AFC U19 Championship qualifiers in Ho Chi Minh City. The Vietnam U19 team is in Group J with Japan, Mongolia, and Guam. The group winner will qualify directly for the final round next year in Uzbekistan. The runners-up will compete for the remaining 4 to 5 spots.
Vision 2026
In his resume, Coach Troussier has led more than 200 international matches. He has worked in 10 countries, 7 federations on 3 continents. With 40 years of experience, Coach Troussier has participated in 4 continental cups, 2 World Cups, 1 Olympic and 8 national championships with many different clubs.
At the youth level, Coach Troussier left an impression with the silver medal at the World Cup with Japan U19 in 1999. Vietnamese fans hope he will develop the young players of Vietnam U19 today to aim for the 2026 World Cup.
According to VFF calculations, by 2026, the current generation of U19 players will have reached their peak, with most of them being between 24 and 25 years old. That is also the time when Vietnam aims to participate in the World Cup when FIFA increases the number of teams in the world's biggest tournament to 36.
Mr. Philippe Troussier was born on March 21, 1955 in Paris, France. In April 2018, Mr. Philippine Troussier signed a contract to become the technical director of the PVF Youth Football Training Center. In September 2019, he was invited to take on the position of head coach of the Vietnam U19 team. In 2000, Coach Philippine Troussier was voted the best coach in Asia.