VietNamNet Bridge – Falko Goetz has won the trust of Vietnamese fans after the impressive victory (2-1) vs Qatar. Only two months ago, he was almost rejected from the list of final candidates for the coach post of the national football squad.

Vietnam say farewell to World Cup

National football squad works hard for upcoming game

When Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto left Vietnam in March, Goetz was an unknown name in Vietnam. At that time, the national and the U23 teams were preparing for the qualifier round of the Olympic 2012 and World Cup 2014. The Vietnam Football Federation had to urgently choose a new coach. The federation received files of 40 candidates from many countries.

VFF selected the five candidates based on the two key criteria – having knowledge of Asian and Southeast Asian football and claiming reasonable wages. Hans Juergen Gede, Falko Goetz, Pierre Lechantre, Steve Sampson and Eduardo Martinho Viganda were the five finalists.

Pierre Lechantre and Eduardo Martinho Viganda were rejected for asking high wages. Steve Sampson did not want to work outside the US. The two final candidates were Hans Juergen Gede và Falko Goetz, both from Germany.

Hans Juergen Gede gained the upper hand in the race because he worked in Asia for many years and wanted monthly wages of $22,000, which the VFF could afford. Gede signed a memorandum of understanding with the VFF. It was expected that the two sides would sign a labor contract in late May 2011.

However, Gede did not come to Vietnam because he was invited by a club from Iran, which was willing to pay $55,000 a month.

The VFF did not have any choice at that time so it signed a two-year contract with Goetz on June 6 in Hanoi. The coach is paid $22,000 a month and he is responsible to bring the U23 team to the championship at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games 2011 in November.

Goet was not highly appreciated in his first days in Vietnam. Though the national squad trounced Macau 13-1 after two games in the qualifier round of the World Cup 2014, Goetz could not convince fans of his ability because Macau was too weak.
Doubts of his talent grew after Vietnam was defeated 0-3 in Qatar. Experts said that Goetz faced a lot of difficulties. Since 2008, the Vietnamese national team has been familiar with the defense-attack policy. The team’s power has been depended on senior players, who have not maintained their best performance since then.

Goetz neglected doubts to work very hard with his team. Many people did not believe that Vietnam could defeat Qatar in the second game but Goetz still said that Vietnam still had opportunity. His belief was true.

Vietnam played very well to finish the game at 2-1. Though it did not help Vietnam to enter the next round of the World Cup, Vietnam can say goodbye to the games proudly.

The victory has erased doubts of Goetz’s talent and enthusiasm. The performance of Vietnamese team has made fans to believe that Goetz is capable to upgrade or at least change the national team which is old in terms of playing policy and human resources.

PV