Disillusioned with going abroad
There was a period from 2016 to 2019 when going abroad became a dream, an ambition, an aspiration for many Vietnamese players. The story of Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Tuan Anh, Van Hau, Dang Van Lam seeking opportunities in Thailand, Korea, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. inspired many colleagues.
At that time, any Vietnamese national player when asked about going abroad, would cherish a major tournament that they longed to attend.
For example, Nguyen Van Toan. He even realized his wish to play football in Korea when he moved to Seoul E-Land in early 2023. Compared to teammates like Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Tuan Anh, Van Toan went abroad 7 years later.
Van Toan has prepared very carefully for the mindset of going to a country with a stronger football foundation than V.League. He focused on physical training, accumulating experience in high-level competitions, and learning about Korean culture and language.
But in the end, after only 9 months of playing at Seoul E-Land, Van Toan decided to return home. The striker born in 1996 joined Nam Dinh before the 2023-2024 V.League season and won the V.League with the team from Thanh Nam.
Before Van Toan, Quang Hai also gave up his ambition to go abroad. It is worth mentioning that just 1 year before, in April 2022, the 27-year-old striker was still burning with desire to play football abroad after his contract with Hanoi FC expired.
He himself had nearly 3 months to prepare knowledge from nutrition, physical fitness to foreign languages to adapt to Pau FC (France). In fact, this player had a smooth first few months in the hexagonal country, being given the opportunity to play on the field.
But in the end, everything went off the rails for Quang Hai in early 2023, before returning to Vietnam to play for the Hanoi Police team in phase 2 of V.League 2023.
Are the players still inspired?
Similar to Van Toan, Quang Hai was right to return to Vietnam. He gradually regained his football feeling and won the V.League championship once more in his career. At this time, Quang Hai has no plans to go abroad, the 3-year contract with some additional clauses may tie Hai "son" to the police team until he is over 30 years old.
Obviously, at that milestone, maintaining form and fitness in V.League is already a challenge for Quang Hai, let alone going abroad to prove his stature.
Cong Phuong is the next case of failure when going abroad. At the age of 29, the striker from Nghe An has had the third unsuccessful time in his career when leaving Vietnam.
The story of Cong Phuong returning home, even accepting to play in the National First Division, has already consumed too much ink. In addition, signing a 3-year contract, with a clause that can be extended for another year with Binh Phuoc Club, is considered to close Cong Phuong's ambition to go abroad from here.
When the best faces of Vietnamese football in the past 10 years were not successful in foreign environments, going abroad also became a luxury dream for current players.
Not many players - from young talents to quality names in V.League - consider leaving Vietnam to fight in another land.
The fact that Hoang Duc did not go to Thailand or Korea is the clearest proof. Instead of going abroad, he decided to make a more practical choice, which was to stay in Vietnam and sign a long-term contract with a large signing bonus.
Seeing their seniors go like that, will young talents at the U23, U20 or U17 level continue their ambition to go abroad, or choose a safer, less thorny path? That is the question that football fans need a lot more time to find the answer to.
