VFF looking for foreign coach for goalkeeper position only

From the national team to the youth teams, the goalkeeper crisis is happening, so the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) is starting to consider hiring foreign coaches for goalkeepers in the near future.

It is not an exaggeration to conclude that the past year has been a period of bad luck for Vietnamese goalkeepers. Most recently, the disastrous missed catch by 16-year-old goalkeeper Y Eli Nie led to a goal in the final minutes, causing U.18 Vietnam to lose to Myanmar and be eliminated from the U.18 Southeast Asian tournament.

Goalkeeper Phi Minh Long made many unnecessary mistakes at SEA Games 29.

In the U.23 Asian qualifiers, young goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung, promoted from the U.20 Vietnam team, also made inaccurate judgments and missed the ball in the air, creating conditions for U.22 Korea to score against U.22 Vietnam. Or goalkeeper Phi Minh Long made everyone speechless with 2 amateur mistakes leading to U.22 Vietnam's painful defeat against Thailand and being eliminated from the group stage at the 29th SEA Games. That's not to mention the behavioral mistake of goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh in the second leg of the AFF Cup 2016 semi-finals. He retaliated against an Indonesian player with a strong kick to the stomach and was sent off. As a result, Vietnam lost to Indonesia at home when there were only 10 players on the field.

Last year, when the U.20 Vietnam team went to Germany for training, the goalkeeper coach of U.23 Borussia M'Gladbach - former goalkeeper Christoph Semmler clearly analyzed the limitations of young Vietnamese goalkeepers: "They have good basic techniques, have high determination when competing, but their weakness is that they are not good at withstanding pressure when the opponent puts pressure on them."

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Vice President of VFF in charge of professional skills, admitted: "The problem of the mentality and lack of confidence in the young players, including the goalkeeper, has led to extremely regrettable mistakes, affecting the performance of the whole team. From a series of mistakes by the goalkeeper, we have begun to consider specialized solutions for the position considered the most sensitive in a team.

Previously, VFF also organized goalkeeper training courses with foreign instructors, but it may not be enough. The VFF Standing Committee will have to calculate a plan soon to be able to invite foreign coaches just for goalkeepers. This is an important matter so it must be carefully calculated. In addition, VFF will continue to try to create more opportunities for players and goalkeepers to compete domestically and internationally to overcome weaknesses in both expertise and psychology.

According to TNO