Republic of Korea tactician Park Hang-seo will coach Vietnam’s U22 football team at the upcoming 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines, with the optimal goal of conquering the long-awaited men’s football gold medal at the largest regional sporting event.

Vietnam head coach Park Hang-seo 

After the Lunar New Year holiday, Park proposed to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) that he would only coach the Vietnam national team to attend the 2022 World Cup qualification tournament, while the task of leading Vietnam’s U22s at the 30th SEA Games later this year should be assigned to his assistant, Lee Young-jin.

However, during a working session with Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen Ngoc Thien, on March 5, the 60-year-old tactician changed his mind and decided to take over the responsibility of directly coaching the U22 team in their hunt for the SEA Games title, alongside the national squad.

Park said he thoroughly understands the significance of the SEA Games men’s football gold medal to Vietnamese football, adding that he should be responsible for trying his best with the purpose of satisfying the fans’ expectations.

Park’s decision to take charge of Vietnam’s U22s at SEA Games has forced the VFF to cancel its previous plan to assign the task to assistant Lee Young-jin. Accordingly, Lee will continue to work as a useful assistant to Park at the upcoming tournaments.

The VFF representative revealed that, together with deciding to take charge of both teams, Park Hang-seo wants to have two more countryman assistants, one of whom is Lee Tae-hoon, technical director at Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC. The RoK coach has also asked for the supplementation of a fitness expert, following the recent farewell of Brazil’s Willander Fonseca, and doctors. The VFF supports all of these proposals from Park, he said.

Today, Park Hang-seo and Vietnam U23s will reconvene in Hanoi for training in preparation for the Group K matches of the 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, which are scheduled to take place at Hanoi’s My Dinh National Stadium from March 22 to 26. Accordingly, Vietnam will meet Brunei on March 22 before taking on Indonesia and Thailand on March 24 and 26, respectively. The goal of Park’s side is to win the group in order to book a direct ticket to the final competition.