VietNamNet Bridge – VFF Chair Nguyen Trong Hy said that the national football squad will recruit a domestic coach if German coach Falko Goetz is fired. The statement shows a big change in VFF’s policy.
VFF has worked out a plan for the post-Goetz period though the German coach has not been dismissed yet. Hy confirmed that if Goetz is fired, the substitute will be one hundred percent a Vietnamese.

“Malaysia or Indonesia are very successful with domestic coaches. In Vietnam’s V-League, domestic coaches are more successful than foreign colleagues. We used to make foreign coaches as default for the national football squad but the situation has changed. It is suitable to choose domestic coaches for the national and U23 teams now,” Hy added.

If it happens, the first time after 16 years, the national football squad will be run by a local coach.

Reviewing Vietnam’s football in the last two decades, the stamp of foreign coaches is outstanding. After many years of absence from the international arena, Vietnam returned to the Southeast Asian Games in 1989. Two years later, the national football team joined 16th SEA Games, opening a new chapter of integration in Southeast Asia. At the same time, the two first Vietnamese coaches were appointed – Nguyen Sy Hien and Tran Duy Long. Both were unsuccessful when Vietnam was defeated in the qualifier round of SEA Games 1991 and 1993.

Because of the failure, VFF changed their viewpoint. They began using foreign coach. The first foreign coach – Weigang from Germany – and his team won a silver medal at SEA Games 1995. Since then, eight foreign coaches have worked with the national team of Vietnam.

During this time, VFF used two local coaches as temporary substitutes for foreign coaches, with Tran Van Khanh in 2004 and Mai Duc Chung in 2007.

VFF began considering the use of local coaches after Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto withdrew in March 2012. At that time, VFF aimed at recruiting coach Le Huynh Duc of SHB Da Nang, Phan Thanh Hung of T&T Hanoi and Mai Duc Chung of Navibank Saigon. However, all of them refused VFF’s invitation since they were busy at their clubs. VFF, therefore, chose Falko Goetz.

Experts said that it is difficult for domestic coaches to work with VFF because they are often not respected as foreign colleagues in the relations with VFF. Local coaches are surely paid much lower than foreign coaches. Vietnamese assistants are paid only VND10 million a month, which is lower than the payment of FCs. In addition, Vietnamese coaches are afraid of responsibility and high targets.

It is said that VFF now aims to the following candidates: Phan Thanh Hung, Le Huynh Duc, Mai Duc Chung and Le Thuy Hai. Huynh Duc and Thanh Hung are very busy at their clubs while Hai and Chung are more leisured.

Hai has strong personality and be straightforward so he is said to be inappropriate to VFF while Chung is indecisive and afraid of responsibility. VFF, therefore, will be difficult to find a suitable candidate.

PV