VFF is 'living in fear'

(Baonghean.vn) - Not yet over the failure of U22 Vietnam at SEA Games 29, VFF and fans had to witness the National U18 team leaving the 2017 Southeast Asian U18 tournament. Our football is truly "living in fear", with a deadlock in development strategy and senior management personnel..

Compared to the seniors Cong Phuong, the U18 National team was eliminated from the group stage even more painfully. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team, after 3 matches of winning like cutting bamboo, lost the last match to U18 Myanmar by a narrow 1-2, making them inferior in the head-to-head (equal points, equal goal difference) due to individual mistakes by young goalkeeper Y Eli Nie.

In less than 9 months, 6 goalkeepers of the national teams made elementary mistakes in the goal. Of course, the result is that we lost 3 big tournaments with high expectations, which are AFF Cup 2016, SEA Games 2017 and U18 Southeast Asia 2017.

What do you see in the report?

If you read the SEA Games 29 summary assessment by VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh: "Players have time to practice and compete together in the National Team and youth tournaments, so they have certain experience. The whole team is ready in terms of expertise as well as physical strength, psychology, spirit... the most united and determined ever" many fans will be shocked.

If we still have gaps and gaps with football in the region, we can correct them and still have hope for the championship. But if "the whole team is ready in terms of expertise, physical strength, mentality, spirit... united and most determined than ever" but still fails so bitterly, then it is really worrying.

When everything is going well, everything is rosy. Photo: AT

It is true that during the preparation for the 29th SEA Games, the General Department of Sports and Physical Training and the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) have provided certain support for Coach Huu Thang and his team. These two agencies confirmed that they have created conditions to completely stop the V-League, along with a series of practice and training matches in Korea before attending the SEA Games.

What is quite surprising is that the last part of the report, analyzing the failure of the U22 team at the 29th SEA Games, said that the players "lack of experience in competition leading to wrong decisions and behaviors that affect the outcome of the match; not mentally stable enough; mostly small physique, lack of strength, basic techniques need to be improved a lot".

Many people believe that in this report, VFF is also "not mentally stable enough" because at the beginning of the page, it stated "The whole team is ready in terms of expertise, physical strength, psychology, spirit... the most united and determined ever" but at the end of the report, it made a 180-degree opposite assessment.

In the articles analyzing the failure of the U22 team at the 29th SEA Games, we believe that the professional mistakes made by Huu Thang and his students in Malaysia are real. Huu Thang made mistakes on the pitch, the players made mistakes on the field, and even the spectators made mistakes in the stands when they were involved in the “fireworks” scandal. However, whether that was the source of the team’s failure or not requires an objective and impartial view.

In any case, we cannot fail to mention the role of Vietnamese football managers and operators, who are primarily responsible for the development of the country's football.

Reading the final assessment of VFF, they are avoiding their responsibility towards coach Huu Thang and his team. VFF officials say their job is to find a head coach and leave all professional matters to this coach, and that's it.

VFF has not yet quantified where Vietnamese football is, compared to football in Southeast Asia. So from foreign coach to foreign coach, from long-distance play to close-range play, but the results are still only better than the weaker teams in the region.

If we make an assessment about the reason for the failure at SEA Games 29: "most of the players are small in physique, lack strength, basic techniques need to be improved a lot" and blame it all on Coach Huu Thang, the players and the club, it is unfair.

This is an accurate assessment, but without a systematic development strategy and cooperation from many sides, it will take a long time for the Vietnamese team to achieve good results. To improve the level of a football industry where “in 9 months, 6 goalkeepers of national teams make elementary mistakes in the goal”, there must be people who are knowledgeable about the profession and truly dedicated.

When trust is stolen

The statements to the press and the indifference and shirking of responsibility of VFF in the summary report of SEA Games 29 have caused many fans to lose faith. If VFF always thinks that they are right, have done all their responsibilities and the failure is due to Huu Thang, who bravely took all the responsibility on himself, it is too easy.

In the end, the weakness comes from within the VFF itself! Photo: AT

Everyone knows that Huu Thang is in charge of the national team for the first time, so it is obvious that he is "inexperienced". If we only talk about the economic aspect, with a salary only 1/20 compared to Mr. Luis Milla, the head coach of Indonesia, Huu Thang's achievements are more commendable than criticized.

Vietnamese football is in a mess right now, the VFF house is in a state of ownerlessness, no one listens to each other and always tries to "get in each other's way". In the end, the weakness comes from within the VFF!

In fact, there is a crisis but clearly, coaches Huu Thang, Hoang Anh Tuan and their students do not deserve to be severely condemned after they have tried their best professionally. This is the time, we should calmly look back at different aspects of Vietnamese football to have corrective measures.

An Thanh