Coach Park, 'suspension' hanging in the balance?

In the past, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary Board has sent people to closely monitor these tournaments. Many times, this organization has issued severe penalties to individuals and groups with unfair-play behaviors.

There is a "precedent"

And in fact, Vietnamese football has received such sentences. Not to mention, in the second leg of the AFF Cup 2016 Semi-final against Indonesia, SLNA goalkeeper Nguyen Manh received a red card after hitting his opponent.

After that, AFC imposed a fine of 1,000 USD and suspended the goalkeeper born in 1991 for 2 matches. Accordingly, the goalkeeper from Nghe An cannot join the Vietnam National Team in the first 2 matches of the 2019 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Afghanistan and Jordan.

Mr. Park with a yellow card in the match against U22 Cambodia. Photo: VFF

Regarding this issue, VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh said: "Currently, VFF has not received any notice from AFC. In the near future, AFC will have a meeting. And then, the final decision will be made."

Fans' concerns that Coach Park Hang-seo may receive a ban from directing at the 2020 AFC U23 Championship from the AFC Disciplinary Committee are not without basis. The absence of Van Hau is considered a disadvantage for U22 Vietnam. If Mr. Park is not allowed to direct the match against U23 UAE, or even the match against U23 Jordan, it will cause us a lot of difficulties.

Coach Park's three yellow cards all came in the last three months. The first one happened in the match against Thailand last September in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Coach Park was quite harsh when center-back Bui Tien Dung was booked for a foul in a collision with Chanathip Songkrasin, even though Chanathip should have been booked for the foul, according to him.

Is reaction necessary?

Coach Park believes that reacting to the referee is necessary so that his players do not receive unfair whistles. “In football, sometimes players receive yellow cards and so do coaches. Assistant Lee and I have experience and know what to do to react to the referee. We have to complain to the referee to protect the players.” In fact, assistant Lee Young-Jin is also hot-tempered and in the group stage of the 20th SEA Games, he received a card before him, such as in the match against U22 Thailand, which made Coach Park laugh in front of the referee.

With the red card in the final match of SEA Games 30, the penalty is hanging over Mr. Park's head. Photo: VFF.

The reality at Philippens shows that not only is he a good coach at reading the game and making sharp tactical adjustments, but Mr. Park is also the one who inspires his students. Twice at the 30th SEA Games, we were led by U22 Indonesia and Thailand, but looking from the sidelines and seeing the Korean coach, the players felt more confident.

Hopefully, next week the AFC Disciplinary Board will meet and make a reasonable decision so that the coaching staff and players of the U23 Vietnam team will be able to stand side by side with Coach Park at the 2020 AFC U23 Championship in Thailand.