Looking to the clubs for resources

A few days ago, representatives of the Vietnam Football Federation met with the media. The reporters' attention was focused on the viewpoint of the Vietnamese football governing body, after the national team's bitter 0-4 defeat to Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. It was not just a heavy technical defeat, contained in 90 minutes. Behind that, a series of high-level issues, in the personnel development strategy for the Vietnam national team, were dissected and analyzed.

brother 2 (2).jpg -0 — The more clubs invest, the more the Vietnamese team benefits.

The viewpoint of the Vietnam Football Federation, through the sharing from President Tran Quoc Tuan, is not to follow the naturalization wave of Malaysia and Indonesia. Instead, Vietnamese football needs to persevere on one path. That is to develop internal strength. In addition, the Vietnam national team will be supplemented with foreign players who have been naturalized in each context. "If we do not take the right steps, the Vietnam national team will become stronger at times but the internal strength of the country will inevitably weaken. We must find a way to help the Vietnam national team become stronger on the one hand but also create motivation for domestic football on the other hand," said President of the Vietnam Football Federation - Tran Quoc Tuan.

In fact, whether we like it or not, Vietnamese football following the path of massive naturalization like Malaysia or Indonesia is beyond the scope of the present time. The overseas Vietnamese players are inferior in both quantity and quality compared to the overseas Malaysian or Indonesian players playing in Europe and South America. If the Vietnam Football Federation only has about 100 to 150 players of Vietnamese origin playing abroad, Malaysia and Indonesia have a force 4-5 times the above number. For example, Bung Meng Freimann - the most expensive overseas Vietnamese player, currently playing in the Swiss National Championship, is worth 2.5 million euros. Meanwhile, Indonesian center-back Mees Hilgers is worth 9 million euros!

The resources of overseas Vietnamese are modest in both quality and quantity, and the foreign players currently playing in the V.League who are capable of naturalizing to play for the Vietnam National Team are not abundant enough and do not reach a high level. Except for Nguyen Xuan Son who meets many criteria from age, ability, and integration ability, the foreign players in their 30s currently playing in the V.League are all at the other end of their peak careers.

It is a fact that if the Vietnam national team wants a good enough squad of overseas Vietnamese players, good enough foreign players and good enough domestic players, the investment of professional clubs from V.League to First Division plays a vital role. For example, the development of overseas Vietnamese players. If the Hanoi Police Football Club did not have enough "blood" to spend more than 10 billion VND to terminate the contract between Slovacko (Czech Republic) and Nguyen Filip, bring this player back to V.League and proceed with the procedure to apply for Vietnamese citizenship, would the national team have a good goalkeeper like it does now? Still the Hanoi Police Football Club, this team continues to do the same with Cao Pendant Quang Vinh. Thanks to that, the "Golden Star Warriors" have another qualified full-back at this stage.

In the next season, the Police team continues to recruit another young, talented overseas Vietnamese player. That is Brandon Ly. Despite the risks that may arise from a young overseas Vietnamese player, this team still accepts to sign a contract of up to 3 years with a generous salary. The purpose of the Hanoi Police Football Club is not only to improve the strength of the team. They also want the Vietnamese national teams to benefit from truly talented overseas Vietnamese players, instead of just stopping at testing some faces returning from Europe during short-term training sessions of the national team, as the Vietnam Football Federation is still doing.

Obviously, the Vietnam Football Federation relies on the ambition of investing resources from both domestic and foreign sources of professional clubs. However, there is a paradox that must be admitted. Football teams in Vietnam are not guaranteed equivalent rights. For example, in recent years, the National Championship has often had to be postponed whenever the AFF Cup and SEA Games take place. The V.League or First Division has to take a break for up to 1-3 months.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/trong-cho-vao-nguon-luc-cua-cac-cau-lac-bo-i772142/