“It’s time for Vietnamese football to go further.” That’s what has been talked about a lot in recent days, after the Vietnamese team won the 2024 ASEAN Championship. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that after this victory, the sports industry in general and football in particular “must not be intoxicated with victory but must continue to strive” and “from this victory, we will have more confidence, spirit, and momentum to do the next jobs, conquer ourselves, overcome our own limits to achieve greater victories, not to disappoint the fans’ trust and love.” And the goal for Vietnamese football is to win the Asian championship and participate in the World Cup.
As for Mr. Park Hang-seo, after talking about going further, the former captain of the Vietnam National Team affirmed: "I believe you can do it". In the period when the country is entering an era of growth, mentioning this issue - as an encouragement, motivation, showing determination... is also reasonable.
The problem is that, if not careful, it can lead to misunderstanding and falling into the “time trap” that Vietnamese football will immediately reach that level. Surely many people still remember, during the period when Mr. Park led and became the most successful coach in history, we used to talk about “reaching new heights”, especially after entering the third stage of the World Cup qualifiers for the first time.
But what was the result? The painful “fall” of Mr. Philippe Troussier clearly showed Vietnamese football what it has and where it is. Many problems have been analyzed, most of which lie in internal strength. That lesson entails the need for change.
Coach Kim Sang-sik, Nguyen Xuan Son and the Southeast Asian championship have brought back the love from fans and optimism to talk about reaching new heights. However, talking about that does not mean that winning the Asian championship or completing the World Cup dream will come immediately. Those successes cannot be calculated in 1 year, 5 years or even 10 years, because there are too many things to do, too many things to change to create a foundation. Even taking a "shortcut" with the naturalization strategy is only a supplementary solution, while what we need is internal strength.
But to do that, time, patience and commitment are required.
