A few days ago, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism officially issued a document proposing to support the naturalization of Vietnamese nationality for Brazilian center back - Sant Ana Santos Gustavo.
This is not only Gustavo's personal story, but also a sign that Vietnamese football is entering a period of transformation, looking for additional personnel to aim for the World Cup goal.
Center back Gustavo has an ideal physique (1m95), a complete physical foundation, good basic technique and flexible tactical thinking. After a period of playing in Vietnam, he showed good adaptation to the domestic football environment.
According to experts, Gustavo is an option worth expecting in the context of the national team's defense showing signs of slowing down.
In fact, since the 2024 ASEAN Cup, the Vietnamese national team's defense has been playing well, but the performance of domestic central defenders has begun to show signs of decline. Duy Manh, Tien Dung and Thanh Chung are no longer able to maintain stability.
That could be the reason why Mr. Kim Sang-sik needs to look for a new option at the back. Young players such as Dinh Quang Kiet, Tran Hoang Phuc or Phan Du Hoc were given opportunities in the training session last September, but the results were not enough to reassure the Korean coach.
Typically, in the internal friendly matches with Nam Dinh and Hanoi Police, the defense still had many loopholes when conceding up to 7 goals in just 2 matches.
In that context, naturalizing players like Gustavo is considered a strategic addition, aiming to improve the quality of the squad in the short and medium term.
According to Lao Dong's research, in addition to Gustavo, a series of foreign players who have played for many years in Vietnam are also expressing their desire to become naturalized citizens. These include Janclesio, Geovane (Ninh Binh), Hendrio (Hanoi), Rimario (Thanh Hoa) and Patrik Le Giang - an overseas Vietnamese goalkeeper currently playing for Ho Chi Minh City Police.
Notably, most of the foreign players who want to be naturalized are over 30 years old. This raises questions about the time to contribute long-term to the national team. However, if we consider it practically, they can still be an effective temporary solution for coach Kim Sang-sik when they need to patch up the squad.
Their playing experience, pitch experience and familiarity with the V.League environment can help the team stabilize again, at least in a few important upcoming campaigns.
In addition, the clubs that manage these players will also benefit if the naturalization process is completed. At that time, the team will have an additional position of foreign players, thereby improving the depth of the squad, increasing competitiveness and improving the quality of the game.
This is also the motivation why some V.League clubs proactively support players to complete legal procedures to become Vietnamese citizens.
However, opening the door for naturalized foreign players also needs to be placed in a long-term vision, especially in the context that young Vietnamese players need to be given opportunities in the national team's jersey to find the next generation of players for the future.
