According to the Brazilian coach, the fact that Hoang Anh Gia Lai players wasted time and “lay down on the field for 20-25 minutes” in the victory over Hanoi Police Club was unacceptable. He also emphasized that it was “shameful” for the team from the mountain town to win like that, and affirmed that he never instructed his players to do that.
Goalkeeper Filip Nguyen also expressed his dissatisfaction with a sarcastic status on his personal page. Remember, last season, The Cong Viettel club also criticized Hoang Anh Gia Lai for their "destructive" playing style in the victory over the capital representative.
In a narrow scope, that is the path of change of Hoang Anh Gia Lai - the team that once pursued a fair playing style under the direction of the owner Doan Nguyen Duc. They are now focused on results, a path they chose intentionally, to now be present in the top of the V.League rankings.
In a narrow scope, it is acceptable for them. And can just one match be a representative image for the whole football? Of course not, when it is only a “few”. But it is worth mentioning that, 2 weeks ago, many people highly appreciated the way the players of the Vietnam U17 team performed - playing sparingly in a 1-1 draw with U17 Yemen to win a ticket to the U17 Asian finals next year.
It is considered that this is a maturity after the failure of some previous U teams. Young players are even given the “responsibility of a man” in the situation. Once again, in the situation, how they perform is no longer the most important thing.
Now, at the national team level, the fact that the team will not play at My Dinh Stadium in the upcoming ASEAN Championship group stage has caused a stir. Obviously, the team's plan and schedule have been made for a long time (VFF has registered with AFF to play at this stadium), but it was easily knocked out by... "Anh trai say hi".
Right or wrong is not discussed, the problem is that it seems that VFF also realizes that the team's appeal is no longer what it used to be, so the possibility of playing in empty stands like in the past is completely possible. If the team loses its appeal like that, where will Vietnamese football go!?
In other words, which way to the World Cup?
