VPF: 'One side is more important, one side is less important'

Because after receiving the notice from the Executive Board, Becamex Binh Duong Club sent a written protest, even the General Director of B. Binh Duong Football Joint Stock Company - Mr. Le Hong Cuong, reserved his opinion that if VFF did not organize the match with Hanoi on September 5, they would withdraw from the competition!

Short vision

Mr. Le Hong Cuong said indignantly: “Previously, the VPF and VFF Executive Boards had planned the first leg of the semi-final on September 1, but because the Vietnam Olympic team participating in the Asiad had the potential to go far, they changed it to July 11 and the second leg was still on September 5. We did not agree because of the tight schedule, so we moved the first leg to July 25.

Unfortunately, at that time, VFF did not calculate the return match date for all sides to be comfortable, but people said that because Hanoi did not request the match? I wonder why VFF had to depend on Mr. Hien's team without thinking about B. Binh Duong?

General Director of B. Binh Duong Football Joint Stock Company - Mr. Le Hong Cuong maintained his opinion: if VFF does not organize the match with Hanoi on September 5, they will accept to cancel the competition. Photo: Internet

The reason is probably that VFF and VPF did not fully anticipate the Vietnam Olympic team's advance in the Asiad, so they built an unreasonable schedule for domestic tournaments.

On September 1, the Vietnam Olympic team had just finished their mission, but on September 5, they had to play the second leg of the National Cup semi-finals, and on September 8, they had to play round 21 of the V-League. With a tight schedule - playing 7 matches in 18 days in Indonesia, it would take at least half a month, or even a whole month, to recover.

VPF was “clumsy in rowing but not skillful in steering” in adjusting the match schedule. In a document sent on the afternoon of August 28 - one day after Vietnam entered the semi-finals of the Asian Games, VPF postponed the second leg of the National Cup semi-final between Binh Duong and Hanoi from September 5 to September 27. VPF did not pay any attention to the match between SLNA and FCL Thanh Hoa, teams that also have Vietnamese Olympic players. Not to mention, SLNA suffered a “double loss” when they had to play away at Hang Day Stadium 4 days later.

Such an unreasonable match schedule that Van Duc and Xuan Manh had to immediately change planes at Noi Bai International Airport and fly back to Vinh to prepare for training.

The two Nghe An players were absent from the celebration ceremony at My Dinh Stadium and the report to the Prime Minister of the Vietnam Sports Delegation. The players were the “victims” of the short-sightedness and unreasonable solutions of the VFF and VPF.

A day later, VPF sent another document to postpone the match to October 3, making BD feel disrespected in this deal. Mr. Cuong further analyzed: “If VFF had planned to play on September 5, it would have given Hanoi players four days off, but because of the celebration, they lost a day. We sympathized with this and agreed to postpone the match by one more day, to September 6. But I don’t understand why VFF refused...”

Conclusion

To prepare for a match, the coaching staff and players of each team must have a training schedule, choose a drop point and gradually release the workload before the match day. However, the somewhat “improvisational” way of working of VFF and VPF has caused great frustration for the teams and fans.

Such an unreasonable match schedule that Van Duc and Xuan Manh had to immediately change planes at Noi Bai International Airport and fly back to Vinh to prepare for training. Photo: Internet

We cannot just use the name of "national team interests" to arbitrarily push disadvantages onto the club in the style of "one side is more important than the other". A style of play that at the end of the season, if Hanoi FC wins the double of both V-League Championship and National Cup, it will still leave a bad reputation among experts and fans.

Meanwhile, with their strength, Coach Chu Dinh Nghiem and the players absolutely do not need that kind of "support"!