At the end of phase 2 of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV) immediately started planning professional preparation for each Vietnamese men's and women's volleyball team.
Recently, VFV has worked specifically with the coaching staff of the two teams to develop professional goals and plans for 2025.
Mr. Le Tri Truong - General Secretary of VFV said: "In 2025, each team will have many competition programs. We identify SEA Games 33 as the most important goal.
Preliminarily, after listening to the professional plans reported by each coaching staff, VFV aims to have 2 teams enter the finals at the 33rd Congress in Thailand.
This is not an easy task for both teams because the host Thailand and the teams have prepared carefully. We will report to the VFV executive board in the upcoming professional meeting."
For the women's volleyball team, except for the number 1 rival Thailand, Vietnam currently still has fierce competition from the Philippines, especially Indonesia. These volleyball countries are focusing on investing heavily in the national women's team. Indonesian and Philippine female players also compete very strongly on the field.
But in reality, the goal of reaching the final of the 33rd SEA Games is a task that is completely within the capabilities of coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet and his team. Because, from 2023 to 2024, Vietnamese women's volleyball has made continuous progress and made an important mark on the international arena.
Besides, Vietnam also has a generation of players at their peak. They have accumulated a lot of experience and courage in recent times. This is the basis for the Sports Department and VFV to expect that the Vietnamese women's volleyball team will improve at the 33rd SEA Games.
Although the goal is clear, the coaching staff of the Vietnamese women's volleyball team must prepare very carefully from now on and be cautious. Even, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team can aim to defeat Thailand in the regional tournament.
"In previous years, when playing against Thailand, Vietnam was destined to lose, but now, despite the absence of captain Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, we still have impressive sets.
I hope that if we have the strongest squad, with the service of striker Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, Vietnam will be ready to compete fairly with Thailand at the 33rd SEA Games taking place in Thailand in 2025," coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet once told Lao Dong.
The Vietnamese women's volleyball team met Thailand in the finals of the last 3 SEA Games (SEA Games 30, 31, 32) and lost to their opponents, receiving silver medals.
Obviously, in Southeast Asia, Thailand is the toughest opponent of Vietnamese women's volleyball. In history, Vietnamese women's volleyball has never won a gold medal in the SEA Games arena when the highest position has always been reserved for the team from the land of the Golden Temple.
Reluctantly, Vietnam has been forced to get used to being the runner-up at the SEA Games for many years. The 33rd SEA Games will be held in Thailand, so the difficulties for coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet and his team will be even greater.
Initial predictions show that the Thai women's volleyball team continues to be the number one candidate for the championship. Not only aiming to reach the finals but also to surprise the Thais, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team needs to be very well prepared and have a little luck in the process of heading towards the 33rd SEA Games, taking place at the end of this year.
