Few players can be naturalized
Basically, Rafaelson will soon have Vietnamese nationality. In the next 1-2 months, he can be registered as a Vietnamese player of foreign origin.
Whether the striker born in 1997 will be called up to the national team or not will depend on Mr. Kim Sang-sik. But behind the move of Nam Dinh club, we need to consider the risk of "breaking" the source of naturalized players.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and football teams must strictly comply with Vietnam's nationality laws. For a foreigner to apply for nationality, they need to live and work in Vietnam for at least 5 consecutive years. In addition, this person needs to ensure work, income, level of understanding and cultural adaptation.
In recent years, many foreign players who have played for a long time have left the V.League one after another. Only a few players are still eligible for naturalization, such as Rimario Gordon, Gustavo Santos (Thanh Hoa), Joseph Mpande (Nam Dinh), Jose Pinto (Hai Phong)... First of all, the effort to naturalize players must come from the teams.
It is undeniable that naturalization will bring benefits to the individual player and the home team first. Then, when they show their willingness to contribute and can raise the level of the national team, VFF will call up the naturalized player to the Vietnam national team.
Should we try to naturalize more players?
Naturalizing players is necessary at this time. The Vietnamese team has not created a new generation of players good enough to gradually replace the golden generation that brought many glories under coach Park Hang-seo.
Phan Tuan Tai, Bui Vi Hao, Nguyen Van Truong played well, showing potential. But if we compare their performance at the same age with Cong Phuong, Quang Hai, Hoang Duc, there is still a big gap.
A player who can solve a game with one play like Rafaelson brings a new tactical solution for Mr. Kim Sang-sik. But the Vietnam team still needs more central defenders and midfielders from this new source.
But to bring a foreign-born player to the national team, there are many other factors outside the field. Players need to have certain standards of behavior, avoiding cases like Phan Van Santos who "innocently" sang the Brazilian national anthem while wearing the Vietnamese team's shirt. Or, players cannot use alcoholic beverages, stimulants and freely livestream (live broadcast) on social networks.
In terms of expertise, the group of players who can apply for citizenship were mostly born in 1993 - that is, 31 years old, the youngest being Gustavo, who is 29 years old. They have declined quite a bit compared to when they first came to Vietnam.
Bruno Cunha is considered “redundant” and is sitting around without a salary at The Cong Viettel. Rimario or Gustavo are probably only suitable for the domestic arena.
Hoang Vu Samson has Vietnamese nationality but it is not practical for him to join the national team at the age of 36. Tran Trung Hieu (Kizito) was born in 1993 but passed the other side of his career 2 seasons ago.
Therefore, everyone understands that the Vietnam national team must naturalize players to “save” their achievements in Southeast Asia and further in Asia. But where to get players to naturalize and whether they are really suitable is a very difficult problem to solve satisfactorily.
