What's happening?
Striker Nguyen Tien Linh has played for Ho Chi Minh City Police Club since the beginning of the 2025-2026 season. He is expected to shoulder the responsibility of scoring goals for the team. However, the striker born in 1997 disappointed many people.
From September 27, 2025 to now, that is, after scoring against Song Lam Nghe An, Tien Linh has gone through 10 matches without scoring in the V.League.
More broadly, since joining Ho Chi Minh City Police, he has only scored 4 goals, including 3 goals in the V.League and 1 time scoring on the scoreboard in the National Cup.
Most recently, in the hard-fought 1-0 victory of the home team at Thong Nhat Stadium against PVF-CAND, Tien Linh had at least 2 clear chances in the penalty area but finished unluckily in front of an empty goal.
Coach Le Huynh Duc admitted that Tien Linh lost the feeling of scoring, encountered great pressure leading to inaccuracy when finishing. He himself really wanted to let Tien Linh be a substitute to stabilize his psychology.
However, in the context that Dinh Thanh Binh has just returned from injury, Bui Van Binh is still too young, he is forced to use the 29-year-old center forward despite his unstable form, performance and spirit.
Coach Kim Sang-sik was the one who directly witnessed Tien Linh's misses in the match mentioned above. Of course, the Korean strategist also shares the same worry as coach Huynh Duc, when his students also showed a lack of sharpness in the Vietnamese team.
After 5 matches in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers, Tien Linh only scored 1 goal. If it weren't for the luck from defender Van Vi and some other positions in the squad, the Vietnamese team might not be able to catch up with Malaysia in this group.
Difficult decision
The Vietnamese national team will gather next week to play a friendly match with Bangladesh and face Malaysia in the final round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
In the context that AFC is likely to defeat the Malaysian team for illegally naturalizing players, the opportunity for the Vietnamese team to win a ticket to the Asian finals is very high, from which coach Kim Sang-sik will partly reduce professional pressure.
However, from an internal strength perspective, Tien Linh's silence for 3 months also raises 2 questions for Mr. Kim. Will he continue to be patient with this striker or look for another option?
In fact, unlike coach Le Huynh Duc at Ho Chi Minh City Police Club, coach Kim has more options in attack. In addition to Tien Linh, he can give opportunities to Xuan Son, Tuan Hai, Hai Long, Hoang Duc...
However, the actual form of many faces mentioned above is not more outstanding than Tien Linh. Xuan Son has only scored 1 goal in the domestic league since returning from injury, continuously missing many opportunities in a series of matches.
Striker Tuan Hai has only scored 3 goals for Hanoi FC in the 2025-2026 V.League. In the last 4 matches, the striker born in 1998 could not put his name on the scoreboard. Hai Long has only scored for the Capital team in round 16, but that is only his 2nd goal this season.
Meanwhile, part of the reason for Ninh Binh FC's series of poor matches in the first 3 months of 2026 comes from Hoang Duc not maintaining high form.
In the context that familiar teammates are also facing instability, Tien Linh is still given a chance is possible. But if he continues to be unlucky with the goal in the next 2 matches of the Vietnamese team, the 29-year-old striker is at risk of losing his position in the attack in the following stages.
