VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has confirmed its trust in coach Phan Thanh Hung after Vietnam’s bitter failure at the AFF Cup.

Vietnam eliminated from AFF Cup




Several days after the failure at the AFF Cup, the biggest concern of the public is how the VFF will analyze the causes of failure and who will bear the greatest responsibility.

After the 26th SEA Games, because of the failure of U23 Vietnam squad, VFF Secretary General Tran Quoc Tuan--who was also the head of the Vietnamese team at the games had to resign. Under the pressure of public opinion, VFF had to fire German coach Falko Goetz.

The failure of the Vietnamese squad this year is also “heavy” but until now no one has resigned. Only the head of the Vietnamese delegation to AFF Cup Ngo Le Bang and coach Phan Thanh Hung offered an apology.

After being defeated by Thailand, on behalf of the VFF, Ngo Le Bang confirmed that VFF would not fire coach Phan Thanh Hung. The contract will be maintained until the end of next year.

When the team arrived home, VFF chairman Nguyen Trong Hy again reaffirmed VFF’s trust on coach Phan Thanh Hung. According to Hy, coach Hung should be given the opportunity to demonstrate his capacity. The failure in the AFF Cup must be seen in many aspects, not only the mistakes of the coach.

However, under a lot of pressure and his self-esteem, it is likely that Hung will resign. If this happens, VFF will face difficulty because its plan for 2013 has been approved.

It is said that VFF should again recruit a foreign coach and the best candidate is Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto, who is now unemployed and also very concerned about Vietnamese football.

But on the sidelines of a meeting to analyze the failure of the Vietnamese football team two days ago, VFF Chairman Nguyen Trong Hy said that the most important task is to find the cause of the failure of the national squad to learn from experience. He emphasized that the VFF still believes in coach Phan Thanh Hung, at least until the expiry of the contract next year.

Of course, VFF’s try to keep Hung is disagreed by many experts and fans. Hung is said to be unable to show off is skills and qualification yet and to not focus his full efforts on his job at the national team.

After the failure of the Vietnamese team, many local experts have criticized VFF for accepting Hung to work at the national team, the U23 Vietnam and Hanoi T&T FC.

In 2013, if this continues, coach Phan Thanh Hung will face the risk of being overloaded. In fact, a month before the 27th SEA Games, Hung will have to empower his assistants to instruct the U23 Vietnam team because he is busy with the national team.

Today, December 5, the VFF will listen to the direction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the issue of whether Hung is allowed to work for three teams at the same time or not.

However, Hung’s point of view is that he would resign if the VFF does not permit him to work for his current FC.

Compiled by Nam Nguyen