Many Vietnamese players are overloaded due to the tight competition schedule.
The 2024-2025 professional season ended on the evening of June 29, after the National Cup final between Hanoi Police Club (CAHN Club) and SLNA ended at Vinh Stadium. The Vietnamese football cycle has been running for 10 months (from September 2024 to present) and it is time for the players to rest and recover their physical strength.
From September 14, 2024 until now, the Vietnamese players have gone through a period of continuous competition and training without any significant breaks.
The players have to compete in the V-League and the National Cup (some teams play in the AFC Champions League 2 and ASEAN Club Championship), with an average frequency of 28-30 matches/season, CAHN Club alone has played 39 matches this season. Only Hanoi Club in the 2019 season played more than coach Alexandre Polking and his team.
Quang Hai and CAHN Club have "plowed" 39 matches this season
PHOTO: MINH TU
At first glance, the number of 30 matches spread over nearly 10 months is not worth mentioning. However, it is important to remember that in between the time plowing in the V-League, the players continuously train and compete internationally for the national team.
The Vietnamese team will have training sessions in September, October, and November 2024, then play the entire AFF Cup in December 2024 and early January 2025, and then continue to focus on the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers in March and June.
5 short and medium-term training sessions, 1 tournament with a density of 8 matches in less than 1 month, create more physical burden for the national team.
During the past 10 months, the longest break for Vietnamese players was the Lunar New Year holiday, lasting about 6 days.
It's not the number of matches, but the constant competition, training and traveling that has "drained" energy, causing many faces to "run out of battery" in the past 2 or 3 months.
Coach Kim Sang-sik has admitted more than once that the tight schedule in the V-League makes it difficult for the players to reach their peak performance.
Many players' physical strength is no longer guaranteed.
PHOTO: MINH TU
In the match against Malaysia, some players admitted that they were tired when entering the final stage of V-League, leading to being unable to follow the tactics that require high fighting spirit of the Korean coach.
Recharge your energy
The mid-season break will help players "relax", regain energy and spirit before entering the fierce 2025 - 2026 season.
The V-League will start on August 15, 2025 and end on June 18, 2026. The National First Division will start from September 19, 2025 to June 17, 2026. The National Cup qualifiers will start on September 13, 2025 and end on June 25, 2026.
How to arrange a suitable match schedule, helping players combine competition and rest to recover... is a difficult problem for the tournament organizers.
This season, the V-League will have a break of over 1 month to make room for the U.23 Asian Cup (if U.23 Vietnam gets a ticket to the final round) and the SEA Games. Like many previous seasons, the V-League has been continuously "cut into pieces" to make room for the national team and youth teams.
That's a way of doing things... unlike anyone else. Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia have long since stopped "sacrificing" domestic tournaments for their youth teams to compete.
Vietnamese players need to rest, but should not rest for too long, leading to laziness and having to struggle to get used to the competition pace again.
Hopefully next season, the Vietnamese football system will make appropriate adjustments so that players have the best foundation for both the club and the national team. Thereby, the whole team will have the physical strength for important matches, including the match against Malaysia in March 2026 in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-viet-nam-da-duoc-nghi-ong-kim-tho-phao-cho-tai-dau-malaysia-185250630181135635.htm
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