Why are foreign teachers so unsuccessful in V-League?

(Baonghean) -V-League 2013 has only gone through 2 rounds but one thing is easy to see: the teams led by young domestic coaches such as SLNA, SHB.Da Nang are showing superiority, while the teams led by foreign coaches are showing signs of instability...

The trend of foreign coaches coming to Vietnam flourished when the VFF turned the V-League into a professional tournament in 2001. Coach Calisto first made a splash when he helped the Long An national team get promoted to the V-League and then won two consecutive V-League championships in 2005 and 2006. After Calisto, Thai coach Arjhan Songngamsap also helped HA.Gia Lai win two consecutive V-League championships in 2003 and 2004 along with two National Super Cup titles. The initial success of these two strategists caused football teams to rush to follow the trend of using foreign coaches. However, since then, no foreign coach has achieved success. There have been dozens of foreign coaches who have come to clubs but all left without fanfare, including former coaches of the Vietnamese national team such as Tavares or Riedl. There are people who have even tried their hand at several different clubs but failed, such as A.Riedl with K.Khanh Hoa and V.Hai Phong, Francisco Vital (currently leading DT.Long An) with NHDA.TP Ho Chi Minh and B.Binh Duong.

In the V-League, there are currently only 3 clubs, DT.Long Anh, HA.Gia Lai and B.Binh Duong, that hire foreign coaches out of a total of 12 teams, with coaches Cho Yoon Hwan, Choi Yoon Kyum and Vital. These are also 3 teams that have consistently used foreign coaches for many years in the V-League, but also frequently change coaches. And the results of all 3 teams in the past seasons and 2 rounds of the 2013 V-League with foreign coaches were not good.



Coach Vital of Long An Football Club. Photo: bongdaplus

At B.Binh Duong, holding a squad of top players with Vu Phong, Minh Duc, Huu Thang, Huynh Kesley, Nguyen Hoang Helio, Sunday.... but coach Cho Yoon Hwan has not yet proven his coaching ability. After 22 losses to XMXT.Sai Gon and SHB.Da Nang, the team dubbed "Vietnamese Chelsea" is temporarily ranked second to last on the rankings. Mr. Cho's compatriot in the mountain town, Choi Yoon Kyum, is not doing any better. With high expectations from Mr. Duc, but just at the beginning of the season, Mr. Choi had to accept a 0-2 defeat to Hanoi T&T in a match where the mountain town players were completely outclassed by the team of domestic coach Phan Thanh Hung. Coach Vital, after helping DT.Long An improve in the First Division last season, also had a difficult start in this year's V-League when he was separated by Thanh Hoa at home and lost to HA.Gia Lai. If these three strategists do not quickly help their teams overcome the difficulties in the early stages of this season, they will most likely no longer have a place to "show off" in the V-League.

According to experts, the reason why foreign coaches do not have much success in the V-League is not due to their ability. Because before coming to Vietnam to work, all of them had quite impressive records, for example, Mr. Ricardo was Mourinho's assistant but was also mercilessly fired by DT.Long An and Binh Duong in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The failure of foreign coaches is partly due to their being too professional, while Vietnamese football teams are still "trendy". In Vietnam's number one tournament, there are many "hard to say" behind-the-scenes stories that foreign coaches can hardly understand. The few cases that have achieved success, such as Mr. Calisto and Arjhan, are all due to the fact that these coaches have had a certain amount of time to learn and adapt to the working environment of Vietnamese football.

In particular, because at that time both DT.Long An and HA.Gia Lai were newly established, all club members looked in the same direction, so coaches Calisto and Arjhan also received special support from Mr. Thang and Mr. Duc. Later, when these clubs achieved certain successes, the bosses became impatient and the policies of the club leaders towards the coaches also changed. On the other hand, clubs such as B.Binh Duong, HA.Gia Lai or DT.Long An were just newly emerging giants, not clubs or localities with rich football traditions. Therefore, the source of coaches was not really abundant, so they either had to accept hiring other locals (like B.BD with coaches Le Thuy Hai, Doan Minh Xuong or before that Tran Binh Su), or could only hire foreign coaches. Furthermore, the reality is that the four teams that have been using foreign coaches all have complicated internal affairs with many factions, while Vietnamese coaches are almost helpless, so foreign coaches are chosen as a compromise solution. However, the authority to direct is not entirely in the hands of the coaches but belongs to the team leader and the executive director. Being interfered with in their professional matters makes them lose prestige in the eyes of the players and they have to leave, which is inevitable.

Another reason why football teams are indifferent and no longer favor foreign coaches is that in recent seasons, the value of domestic coaches has been raised after the success of Nguyen Huu Thang, Phan Thanh Hung, Le Huynh Duc when helping SLNA, Hanoi T&T, SHB.Da Nang win the V-League championship. These domestic coaches are considered to have the courage, understand the characteristics of Vietnamese football and grasp the psychology of each player, because they were once experienced players and have leadership qualities. In addition to the above cases, we can also mention Le Thuy Hai, Lu Dinh Tuan, Hoang Anh Tuan, Tran Cong Minh... Therefore, to be a successful coach in Vietnam, the most important thing is to understand the delicate, "hard to say" things of this football and the psychology of the players, not just professional ability. This is also another characteristic of Vietnamese football!

Mai Anh