On the afternoon of November 22, Mr. Tran Anh Tu - Vice President of Vietnam Football Federation had a meeting with the press after the 9th VFF Annual Congress in 2024 (term 2022-2026), related to professional work.
In response to the question about the selection of personnel for the Vietnamese national team by coach Kim Sang-sik, Mr. Tu said: "Who to call is decided by the head coach and can consult the professional department. He watches many matches in V.League, based on the players' performance to make decisions.
According to the contract, the choice of players is entirely up to the coach. VFF leaders cannot force the head coach to choose anyone. No federation can interfere in this matter.
As for Nguyen Xuan Son, his name is on the preliminary list. Whether Son is called up or not depends on his eligibility to compete according to FIFA's criteria. VFF has completed all procedures and reports, if FIFA agrees, Nguyen Xuan Son will be allowed to compete."
Regarding the goal of reaching the final of the AFF Cup (new name ASEAN Cup) 2024, the Vice President of VFF emphasized: "The VFF Executive Committee has dissected a lot about the expertise of the Vietnamese team. With this AFF Cup, our goal is still to reach the final match even though it will be difficult, because Indonesia has many naturalized players, and Thailand is also very strong.
The Vietnamese team has about 3 weeks of training, the coaching staff aims to improve their physical strength. The team's physical strength is not guaranteed at the moment, many individuals do not meet the requirements. Some Nam Dinh players will join later due to being busy competing in the Asian Cup C2.
Through the matches played, coach Kim Sang-sik has drawn a lot of experience to have the best preparation, VFF set the target of reaching the final match. However, it is necessary to calculate to solve each match. Not competing in FIFA Days to focus on training the team's physical strength is reasonable."
In addition to the Vietnam national team, the VFF Executive Committee also set specific goals for the Vietnam national team and the Vietnamese women's futsal team to participate in continental tournaments next year.
"In the near future, U17 Vietnam will be trained abroad, stabilizing the team of coaches and athletes. The goal is to pass the group stage of the 2025 U17 Asia.
For the Vietnamese women's futsal team, in January 2025 they will play the Asian qualifiers in Myanmar. The team will gather again from the end of November. Regarding the force, the 16 players who played in the last tournament had 9 players from Thai Son Nam Ho Chi Minh City, 7 players from other teams. Some players gathered late because they had to play on an 11-a-side pitch.
The Vietnamese women's futsal team can go abroad for training or invite opponents to play friendly matches, depending on the draw results. We are ranked 11th in the world, hopefully we can avoid strong teams like Japan and Iran. Winning a ticket to the FIFA Futsal World Cup finals is not easy, but we still aim to go to the World Cup," added Mr. Tran Anh Tu.
