In a press conference on the afternoon of June 17, VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan said: “After the loss to Malaysia, my hair turned gray and I lost sleep for two nights because of many thoughts. The story is not just about the defeat on the field but how we will develop in the future. We analyzed many models, many football backgrounds that have naturalized strong players and what the consequences were.”
Mr. Tuan also shared that if following the trend of naturalization to quickly strengthen the national team, Vietnamese football will face the risk of losing internal development motivation. "The national team can become stronger at a time but the domestic system will weaken. When there is no more competition for the opportunity to be on the national team, domestic players will no longer have the motivation to practice. We are persistently pursuing the path of strong development from internal strength, calculating, consolidating, and supplementing must be appropriate, not creating consequences like other countries have done. We have plans but need to be patient," the VFF President analyzed.
Besides Mr. Tuan's concerns, it is also necessary to look at the reality that the source of quality Vietnamese-origin and naturalized players for Vietnamese football is also scarce. Over the past decade, all the best Vietnamese-origin players who have been selected for the Vietnamese national team have come from France, the US and some Eastern European countries. These include Nguyen Filip, Mac Hong Quan (Czech Republic), Dang Van Robert, Patrik Le Giang (Slovakia), Cao Pendant Quang Vinh (France) or Lee Nguyen (US)... According to experts who regularly follow the movements of Vietnamese-origin players, the four most likely names are Kenneth Schmidt - central defender of Fortuna Dusseldorf; the two brothers Bung Meng and Bung Hua Freimann currently playing for Luzern club (Swiss national championship); Aymeric Faurand Tournaire - potential young striker of Laval (Ligue 2, France).
Nguyen Xuan Son is currently the most successful naturalized player in history, although he has only played at the 2024 ASEAN Cup. Previously, if the Vietnamese team could take advantage of naturalized stars who do not have Vietnamese blood such as Hoang Vu Samson, Phan Van Santos, Huynh Kesley Alves... But all of them are now unable to compete at the highest level or have retired.
According to FIFA regulations, for each player who has no connection with the national team and wants to be naturalized, he needs to live in the country for 5 years to be eligible to play. According to this regulation, currently only Hendrio Araujo ( Hanoi ), Gordon Rimario, Gustavo Santos (Thanh Hoa), Jose Pinto (Binh Dinh), Janclesio (Binh Duong) and Geovane Magno (Hong Linh Ha Tinh) can be naturalized to be eligible to play for the Vietnamese national team. However, these players are all facing their own problems and are not in the best form.
According to VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan, persistently pursuing a direction that is considered more sustainable is to invest in the youth training system, building a foundation of internal strength from the roots. This is considered a long-term but only way to create a unique identity for Vietnamese football.
"There is a First Division team with a project and breakthrough ideas, helping football to be sustainable, with colors, thoughts and directions coming from the love of football, wanting to make the national team stronger in the future.
Developing youth clubs is the foundation. The national team needs to be stronger but also needs domestic motivation. There must be more friendly tournaments, competitions, and many overseas training sessions so that players can develop and improve. We will invest from the U15 level, sending players to train in Europe to prepare for future tournaments,” said Mr. Tuan.
The issue of finding overseas Vietnamese and naturalized players still needs a clear plan. However, to develop football sustainably, youth training clearly needs to be focused on. Balancing these two factors is something that the VFF needs to have specific calculations about.
Vietnam U19 women's team ready for the final match
The final match of the 2025 Southeast Asian U19 Women's Championship between Vietnam U19 Women and Thailand U19 Women will take place at 6:30 p.m. on June 18 at Thong Nhat Stadium.
In the pre-match press conference, coach Okiyama Masahiko said he had been following the Thai U19 women's team but had not yet analyzed much.
"In the previous matches and yesterday's semi-final, I watched U19 Thailand but the rainy weather did not allow much analysis, they have many good players. The three previous times U19 Vietnam lost in the final, I did not work, so I am not sure about that. Currently, our goal is still the same as the beginning. We have one more match to complete that goal. But certainly the match with U19 women's Thailand is a difficult match, I want the players to have a match dedicated to the fans", coach Okiyama Masahiko shared.
"In tomorrow's match and all matches of U19 Vietnam, I want to say that set pieces are very important. Players must be proactive and practice these situations a lot. If we make good use of these situations, it will open up opportunities and help teammates become much more confident," coach Okiyama Masahiko added.
Regarding the weather conditions in Ho Chi Minh City, coach Okiyama Masahiko commented: "We were given the opportunity to practice early and have practiced to get used to the rainy weather. U19 Vietnam has developed a strategy and they grasped it very quickly. Thailand does not have 1 to 2 strong players but their front line has 5 or 6 outstanding faces."
Finally, coach Okiyama Masahiko said that Vietnam U19 women will try to keep a clean sheet against Thailand U19 women.
"The matches in the group stage are different from the finals and semi-finals. Today's training session will be to practice again and remind the goalkeeper to stay strong against Thailand's attack. We have also practiced and gotten used to Thailand's fast playing speed. Keeping a clean sheet in the final is very difficult, but we will try to do it. Of course, when we reach the final, all options must be prepared," coach Okiyama Masahiko emphasized. (HH)
Source: https://cand.com.vn/van-hoa/tran-tro-chuyen-nhap-tich-cau-thu-i771898/
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