After 1 year, the "Golden Star Warriors" won 5-0 against the Laos team in the opening match of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. This is not a comparison between the names and levels of the two opponents that the Vietnam team will face.
It is not a criticism of Mr. Philippe Troussier - who was fired right after the loss to the Indonesian team - or a compliment for Mr. Kim Sang-sik in his current position.
Here, what needs to be recognized is the path, the journey to discover many things. Many people say that choosing a French coach is a mistake, however, is it a mistake of a person who is considered "backdated and outdated", or is it the fault of the football scene itself that has not caught up with the strong development of world football?
The successor, from Korea, received compliments for bringing home the 2024 ASEAN Cup championship, but the question is, are we stronger now than a year ago? Maybe, maybe not, because most of them are still those factors, just the way coaches choose style, decide personnel...
Therefore, from a certain perspective, we need to be grateful to Mr. Troussier for showing us where we are, even though his haste made him pay the price. From there, Vietnamese football accepted to open another door - as if initially using naturalized players and initial success.
It is just the beginning, to remember and rethink that we are not necessarily stronger than we were before, we must remember that opponents are not standing still to watch Vietnamese football move up.
As the Indonesian team is an example, there was a lot of laughter after coach Patrick Kluivert's team suffered a 1-5 defeat to the Australian team, but don't forget that they are in the third qualifying round. Not only that, after the 1-0 victory over Bahrain, they still have a chance to compete for the 2nd place in Group C, as well as the opportunity to continue to the 4th qualifying round.
And if 1 year later, people still see the Indonesian team playing on green, shiny grass, then the Vietnamese team seems to have turned their backs on the My Dinh National Stadium...
