VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said it would give priority to foreign candidates and currently the federation has had a list of ten foreign coaches to replace Henrique Calisto.

 

The federation has just organized a meeting with the National Coaching Council to work out a plan to recruit a new chief coach for the national team. At the meeting, experts and officials discussed the advantages and disadvantages of Vietnamese and foreign coaches.

 

In the last three years, young coaches in Vietnam have made great progress. The most outstanding names are Huynh Duc, who led Da Nang to the V-League 2009 championship, Phan Thanh Hung who brought Hanoi T&T to the V-League 2010 championship and Nguyen Van Sy, who took Ninh Binh to the First Division Championship 2009.

 

Some said that coach Phan Thanh Hung might be a suitable candidate because Hung was Calisto’s assistant for a long time.

 

However, it is unable to recruit a Vietnamese coach because all qualified coaches are working for clubs. Even when the VFF can convene clubs to “concede” their coaches to the national team, the VFF can’t afford to pay them because it is not allowed to pay local coaches as high as its pay for foreign coaches.

 

The top priority, therefore, will be seeking a foreign coach. VFF Vice Chair Pham Ngoc Vien said that the federation has received over ten applications, including famous names from Brazil, Argentina, the UK and Eastern Europe.

 

According to a source from the VFF, Alfred Riedl, who was the chief coach of the Vietnamese national squad for three times, is also a candidate. Riedl helped Indonesia to rank second at the AFF Cup 2010.

 

Other candidates are David Booth, Peter With, Simon McMenemy, etc.

 

Vien said that the national squad and U23 squad will participate in the qualifier rounds of the World Cup 2014 and Olympic London 2012 this June so it is urgent to recruit a new coach.

 

PV