Kiatisuk and his fate with Vietnamese football

If the Vietnamese national team is always close, confronting the Thai national team anytime, anywhere in every arena, being a "regional derby" phenomenon, then strangely, Kiatisuk has long been a great friend, a teacher of Cong Phuong - Tuan Anh at HAGL, a person who always passionately wishes for the solidarity and progress of Thai and Vietnamese football.

That is the beauty of football life, it is a story worth paying attention to in the era of comprehensive integration of the country thatKiatisukHaving played for HAGL and then taken on the role of head coach of HAGL is a more vivid example than ever.

Coach Kiatisuk Senamuang.

Kiatisuk is the only person in the region to have won gold medals as both a player and a coach in the Tiger Cup/AFF Cup. This famous player is affectionately called "Thai Zico", having scored 251 goals/339 matches in his 18-year career. When joining HAGL from 2002-2006, Kiatisuk scored 59 goals/75 matches. Kiatisuk took over HAGL in 2006, then in 2010 but was unsuccessful. In the 2021 season, Kiatisuk returned to HAGL for the third time and showed a complete transformation in the strategist's coaching talent, especially after his time as head coach of Thailand U23 (201-2016), head coach of Thailand National Team (2013-2017).

The person who is most attached and loyal to Kiatisuk is of course Mr. Duc and of course Kiatisuk also fully reciprocated the kindness of the HAGL boss. Obviously, it is impossible to have a domestic football club with rich identity and many achievements if it only uses entirely "homegrown" human resources and stubbornly adheres to the concept of "first mother, second child". Vietnamese football has a generation of U19 players who are famous in the region and continent starting from the breakthrough of HAGL's foreign training cooperation. Along with other training centers, potential young factors were born, so that when Mr. Park Hang-seo returned to take charge, Vietnamese football opened its eyes and face to the world over the past 4 years as we know. But certainly with this "second half" of Mr. Duc when inviting Kiatisuk back, not only HAGL Club will benefit but the whole football industry will be forced to move in a direction that is beneficial to the whole as the 2021 V. League season has proven.

Coach Kiatisuk will raise the level of HAGL. Photo: HAGL

Remember last season, under Kiatisuk's leadership, HAGL won 3-0 against defending champion Viettel, at that time still had strong soldiers like Ngoc Hai, Tien Dung, Nguyen Manh... or HAGL beat Hanoi FC 1-0 even though the purple team did not lack Quang Hai, Duy Manh or Hung Dung... Imagine, a football scene where over and over again only Hanoi FC or Viettel took turns winning the throne, taking all the individual and collective titles, taking all the places in the national teams, is that a development, a rise worth celebrating? The fact that HAGL of Mr. Duc and Kiatisuk defeated the above talents is a change worth waiting for, more necessary than ever to nurture the desire to reach new heights.

Recently, when HAGL won the Quang Trung Emperor Cup, it further demonstrated the talent of the Thai coach, even though most of the key players are playing for the national team. When HAGL participates in V. League 2022, it will certainly be a tough opponent for any team. Moreover, HAGL's attitude and responsibility when participating in AFC Champions League 2022 shows that Vietnamese football has benefited greatly from this, when many key players in the national team in the club have been able to compete and learn many things from this prestigious tournament.

The matches between SLNA and HAGL in V.League 2021 are not only attractive because these are two good training centers of Vietnamese football, but Coach Quang Truong and Kiatisuk are also former teammates at the mountain town team. Photo: Document

Everyone knows that a strong V. League must originate from strong clubs, such as HAGL, Hanoi FC, Viettel or SLNA, Binh Dinh. A strong Vietnam national team must have strong human resources from clubs that compete at the top level regularly and continuously, including HAGL with the coaching talent of Kiatisuk.

That is the “fate” of Kiatisuk. Hopefully, this fate will continue to be embellished and enriched over time so that Vietnamese football, along with Thai football, will bring joy to a large number of fans. Sports bring glory to each outstanding individual, but above all, it must bring joy and excitement to fans near and far, both at home and abroad. With Kiatisuk for a long time, we have seen that more clearly than ever and increasingly hope that he will continue to be successful, even more successful...

Phu Chau