World Cup 2030 and the story of Xuan Tien, Duc Viet today

Foreign soldiers inV.LeagueFor a long time, over time and all related matters, there are people who will become naturalized, continue to play and work in Vietnam after retiring, the most typical person is probably Huynh Kesly at B. Binh Duong. There are people who have been called up to the national team like goalkeeper Dos Santos when he was at Long An Club or Dinh Hoang Max when he was at Ninh Binh Club, but this trend has almost been closed. Instead, the biggest possibility in the future is to summon and invite players who live and play in advanced football backgrounds, have Vietnamese origin, have the desire to play for the Vietnam National Team, and meet all the accompanying conditions such as goalkeeper Van Lam, Mac Hong Quan...

Xuan Tien during a training session at Song Lam Nghe An Club. Photo: Duc Anh

For players who are in the national team, depending on their performance, needs and other conditions, they will be recruited and left the national team as a normal thing under the extremely high pressure of reality. When the Vietnam national team competes in the third qualifying round of the World Cup in Asia, the ability, performance and class of each person are clearly shown in the eyes of experts and fans. At that time, the possibility of renewing the force is raised and the coaching staff will of course add factors in the planning. Of course, at this time, the possibility of some promising pillars can be called to compete abroad, not just for purely commercial purposes.

The only thing that is extremely worrying is that even a player born abroad, trained abroad, but when playing abroad like Van Lam has not shown anything exciting or promising. The story of Huynh Duc, Cong Vinh before, or Xuan Truong, Cong Phuong, Van Hau... when going abroad actually shows that the success as hoped is extremely... fragile, easy to break!

The third character is the young players, who bring a breath of fresh air in the desire to find talent for Vietnamese football to reach new heights. Who knows when Vietnamese football will have a young star like Van Quyen to bring inspiration to the national and international U16 sky, especially the sky of SEA Games 2003? Of course, Quang Hai is a promising new star, appearing in the sky of Changzhou from the 2018 U23 Asian Cup, then AFF Cup 2018 and SEA Games 2019 and the ability to shine of this star will never stop? The problem is that Vietnamese football with Quang Hai and his teammates still cannot surpass the talent of Chanathip and his teammates in the Thai national team. So, besides many other important tasks, we still hope for the appearance of new stars, the hard work of an entire football industry to improve the quality of the national team.

In recent days, Vietnamese football has been operating according to the "World Cup 2030 dream" when at that time FIFA will increase the number of participating teams from 32 to 48 teams. With the mindset that by 2021, the Vietnam National Team has entered the 3rd qualifying round of the continent, the path to the ticket is considered short, can be reached when the number of teams is expanded, of course Asia also has an increased quota and we are the ones with a great opportunity, cannot and must not be missed?

From now until 2029-2030, Quang Hai may still be a mainstay, still on the national team, but the question is who are his teammates, which are the outstanding names? Football officials are of course looking at the current U17, U19, U21 players as they will be allowed to go to the big seas earlier, to hone their skills more...

Many people know that it is not a coincidence that Vietnamese football used to have a The Cong team that played explosively, winning many Chinese teams in the 1970s, after they trained for a long time in Germany or North Korea. The U17 generation coming to Germany to train and compete is following in the footsteps of their father's success. The U21 will participate in the U23 regional qualifying round and the ASIAD is that path. The U23 participating in the U23 continental and SEA Games is that long-term choice...

We have also heard and seen the light from a few young stars such as Quoc Viet at NutiFood Academy, Xuan Tien at SLNA or Duc Viet at HAGL. Hopefully, these young buds will always be considered “national assets”, will be nurtured and developed in a solid way, strong enough to reach far.

Only then can we hope that Vietnamese football will truly be raised to a higher level. Starting from the V. League matches with the competition between foreign players and domestic players, young players, from the selection of personnel for the national teams, the process of competing domestically and internationally to truly live in a top-notch and classy football environment... to have all the necessary conditions to meet the requirements for a national team to go to the big sea at the destination of the 2030 World Cup not far ahead.