Is Vietnamese football strong enough to 'go out to sea'?

First of all, it must be affirmed that after the 2018 AFF Cup and 2019 SEA Games gold medals, Vietnamese football has become the number 1 force in Southeast Asia in the past 2 years. This achievement is the result of a transformation process from investing in youth football, improving the National Championship..., along with the presence of Coach Park Hang-seo.

History turns a new page

Under the direction of the Korean coach, along with the two championships mentioned above, U22, U23 Vietnam and the National Team have not lost to any team in the region. 29 matches under the hands of Mr. Park, we won 24 matches, drew 5. That is something that Vietnamese football has never had before and we do not know when it will be repeated?

Mr. Park has left his mark in the hearts of Vietnamese fans. Photo: TT

Vietnamese football has a capable and qualified coach and a generation of talented players, behind which is a promising U19 generation. The fact that we aim for a higher goal instead of lingering around the AFF Cup or SEA Games is something that many people are discussing.

But clearly, we have to look back at the lessons of Thai football. With a great record of achievements, 5 AFF Cup championships out of 12 times organized (not to mention 3 runner-up positions), 15 SEA Games championships out of 30 tournaments. 10 years ago, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) also proactively "let go" of the AFF Cup and SEA Games to focus on continental tournaments.

Although the country has a football foundation that is both broad and deep, and just one Thai League 1 club alone has several satellite football academies like HAGL, the number of stars capable of playing for the national team is still limited.

Thai football does not let stars like Songkrasin, Theerathon, Supachok, Ekanit and Supachai... play 60 matches/year like Quang Hai in the past 2 years. When wanting to "catch the iron fish", FAT has to decide to "give up the perch", that seems to be the rule and must be accepted. Maybe even though there were a few AFF Cup and SEA Games without achievements, FAT still did not change its goal, they still extended Mr. A. Nishino's contract for 2 years after the failure in the Philippines.

Despite failing in both the AFF Cup 2018 and SEA Games 2019, FAT still gave the players 2 weeks of rest before focusing on training to compete in the AFC U23 Championship held right in Thailand. There are still Thai people who do not fully understand the necessary and sufficient conditions for Thai football to "reach out to the big sea", accepting "backward to advance".

What to bring

After winning the AFF Cup and SEA Games, many people believe that it is time for us to step out into the “big ocean” and forget about the “village pond” of Southeast Asia. Photo: VFF

Returning to the story of Vietnamese football, setting goals at the continental level is not wrong. But the core issue is the issue of psychological preparation, goal divergence and implementation milestones. The simplest question is: At that time, will the SEA Games 31 gold medal in Vietnam still be our number 1 goal?

It took 28 years after Vietnam football joined the region to get its first gold medal, which means that the path to continental and world football achievements is also much more difficult and arduous. Before thinking about success, Vietnamese fans must also get used to failure, even failure at the AFF Cup and SEA Games, which have just had initial success.

Simply, even in choosing a military leader, it took more than a dozen foreign coaches for VFF to meet Mr. Park who is friendly and approachable. At the age of 61, even if he wanted to, Mr. Park certainly cannot go long with Vietnamese football. So, concluding what standards are needed to have a good coach to continue leading the national teams is not an easy problem for VFF.

To go out to sea, not only VFF but all of us must accept the big waves. If we are of the same mind, let’s begin!

An Thanh