Why does Mr. Park Hang-seo "carry a baby and grind rice at the same time"?
(Baonghean.vn) - This year, Vietnamese football has many important goals, but the most important is the 30th SEA Games.
In theory, the Korean coach's contract with VFF stipulates that he is responsible for leading both teams until early 2020. Not only Mr. Park Hang-seo but also his predecessors Alfred Riedl, Henrique Calisto, Toshiya Miura and most recently Huu Thang all have this "honor".
For the desire of gold medalSEA Games
In fact, very few countries in the world use the "2 in 1" plan like VFF, but with the characteristics of Vietnamese football, we have used this plan for a long time. Especially when the plan of 48 teams participating in the 2022 World Cup has not been confirmed by FIFA and whether Asia will get 8.5 slots or not is still quite unclear, the 30th SEA Games gold medal is the immediate goal.
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| The 10-person assistant team will help Mr. Park manage both the U22 Vietnam team and the national team. Photo: VFF |
Even many experts, including Vietnamese football, have made certain progress in 2018, but entering the top 8 of continental football to attend the 2022 World Cup is still an overwhelming problem. Looking at the process of earning a ticket to the World Cup of Japan and Korea, we still have to try harder. The time and initial achievements like that seem not to be enough to be present at the biggest football festival on the planet.
Meanwhile, the SEA Games football gold medal has been the dream of millions of Vietnamese people for decades. Since 1975, the country's football team has never won the championship of the largest sports tournament in the region. We just sat and watched Thailand and Malaysia take turns dominating the SEA Games, until U22 Vietnam had enough favorable conditions to dream of winning the championship, there was no reason for Mr. Park Hang-seo not to take charge.
6 players including goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung, Van Hau, Dinh Trong, Quang Hai, Duc Chinh, Tien Linh will be the backbone of the U22 Vietnam squad at SEA Games 2019. These are players who have competed at all levels of the national team and continental level, with extensive experience in competition.
In the context of U22 Thailand facing many difficulties in the transition period after the generation of Tristan Do, Chanathip Songkrasin,... U22 Indonesia's performance is quite unstable, U22 Malaysia, U22 Philippines, U22 Singapore or U22 Myanmar teams in recent years have had gaps compared to the "third golden generation" of Vietnamese football.
Situational solution
In fact, the option of assistant Lee Young-Jin taking charge of the U22 Vietnam team at the 30th SEA Games is not a bad solution. Mr. Lee Young-Jin leading the team will ensure the maintenance of the philosophy, playing style, and spirit of the players, while also relieving some of the pressure on coach Park Hang-seo. Setting ambitious goals in both the World Cup qualifiers and the SEA Games will overload Mr. Park and many players.
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| Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said: "This year, Vietnamese football has many important goals, but the most important is the 30th SEA Games." Photo: VFF |
If he manages two teams at the same time, it means that Mr. Park Hang-seo accepts to put pressure on himself. But he will have a consistent coach for the players to play both the World Cup qualifiers and the SEA Games. Even during the World Cup qualifiers, he will regulate the playing time of the 6 U22 Vietnam players to best suit, avoiding the situation of "running out of battery".
Certainly, the Korean strategist will face a series of big challenges when taking charge of both the Vietnam national team and U23 Vietnam in 2019. But once he understood the aspirations of the Vietnamese people, he volunteered to take on the responsibility, which means he had calculations in mind. Wish him more luck to complete this big goal.
