Playing abroad, Cong Phuong and Van Hau are still far behind Cong Vinh

Players going abroad to play is an inevitable issue in the current trend of football development. However, if we count the number of minutes played by Vietnamese players, those are really sad numbers of Vietnamese football at this time.

Currently, Vietnamese football has 2 players playing for foreign teams: Nguyen Cong Phuong (Sint-Truiden, Belgium) and Doan Van Hau (Heerenveen, Netherlands). It can be said that Cong Phuong and Van Hau are breathing the atmosphere of top European leagues.

Previously in 2016, Cong Phuong moved to Japan to play for Mito Hollyhock Club in J-League 2 and played 5 matches, a total of 80 minutes, without scoring any goals. Before coming to Belgium, Cong Phuong also played 8 matches for Incheon United with 253 minutes of play. His playing time in all competitions was 401 minutes, 4 as a starter, 5 times from the bench.

Statistics of Cong Phuong's playing time at Incheon United. Photo: Cong Phuong FC

However, after 14 rounds of the Belgian National Championship, Cong Phuong has only played 1 minute. The striker who grew up at HAGL has only been registered in the squad 4 times each match.

And of course, being constantly on the bench has caused Cong Phuong's form to show signs of decline. In the Vietnam national team, the last time Cong Phuong scored was against Jordan at the 2019 Asian Cup. In the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, he has not scored any goals.

As for his club, the last time he scored a goal was in 2018 when he was playing for HAGL. In the 2018 V.League season, Cong Phuong scored 12 goals before moving to Incheon United.

Midfielder Luong Xuan Truong has also played for many foreign teams. Photo: Buriram United Club

In the past, midfielder Nguyen Tuan Anh also played for Yokohama FC. Meanwhile, midfielder Luong Xuan Truong played for two Korean clubs, Inchin United and Gangwon FC, before moving to Thailand to play for Buriram United.

If Tuan Anh has not played a single minute for Yokohama, Xuan Truong's playing minutes are better, 4 matches with 251 minutes for Incheon United, 2 matches with 106 minutes for Gangwon and at Buriram United, 6 matches with 258 minutes and 1 goal.

The player who received the most expectations in the overseas trips of Vietnamese football, Doan Van Hau, is still struggling to find a place in Europe. The Dutch National Championship has gone through 12 rounds and the number of minutes played by this young player is still a round zero. Although, Van Hau has been registered 6 times.

In terms of the number of times he played and the number of effective minutes, the juniors are still far behind former national team player Le Cong Vinh. In 2013, the Nghe An striker scored 13 goals in the V.League for SLNA and moved to Consadole Sapporo on loan.

Statistics of Le Cong Vinh's overall achievements when playing abroad: Graphics: Trung Kien

Specifically, Le Cong Vinh had 9 matches, 377 minutes and scored 2 goals, 2 assists in J-League 2. Statistics including the National Cup are 11 matches, 503 minutes, 4 goals.

Before that, Cong Vinh’s playing time at Leixoes was not much, but Cong Phuong and Van Hau still could not reach him. He had 2 matches in the Portuguese National Championship with 116 minutes of playing time, without scoring any goals. On all fronts, Le Cong Vinh had 3 matches with 176 minutes.

All comparisons are lame and only relative, however, Doan Van Hau's chances are considered higher, because the left-back of the Vietnam national team is still very young. In the past, Cong Vinh had to spend 2 months practicing "on the run" in Portugal before he could play.

If we look at the achievements of Thai players, Vietnamese players are still far behind. A typical example is Chanathip Songkrasi. This player is only 1m58 tall and weighs 55 kg and has played for Sapporo for 3 seasons.

In early 2017, Chanathip played 16 matches and did not score any goals. In 2018, he played 30 matches, 2,641 minutes, became a mainstay of the team and scored 8 goals. That achievement helped Chanathip enter the typical squad, standing shoulder to shoulder with the top players in Asia.

Doan Van Hau has yet to play a single minute in the Belgian National Championship. Photo: Heerenveen Club

In 2019, Chanathip's performance was not bad, the Thai midfielder had 24 matches with 2,142 minutes on the field and 4 goals. Remember, when Chanathip came here to play, Le Cong Vinh's old club was promoted to J-League 1, which is the highest tournament in Japan.

Besides Chanathip, Thailand also has many faces playing abroad and are pillars of those teams such as defender Theerathon Bunmathan (Yokohama FC), goalkeeper Kawin playing at OH Leuven in Belgium and many others who have returned.

According to experts, the reason why Vietnamese players have difficulty playing abroad comes from physical factors and strength. Besides, the ability to absorb tactics and foreign language proficiency are also quite big barriers.

It seems that although Vietnamese football has made great and steady progress since Coach Park Hang-seo arrived, if we measure the success of players who have gone abroad, we are still quite far behind Thailand.

Coach Park was shocked when Doan Van Hau went to the Netherlands.

Mr. Park Hang-seo was surprised when Doan Van Hau asked to temporarily leave the team to sign a contract with SC Heerenveen.