Rarely exceptional, but…
That is the case of Van Quyet - the captain of Hanoi FC. At 33 years old, he decided to leave the national team after about 20 minutes on the field in the friendly match with the Indian team on October 12.
Van Quyet said that his physical condition was no longer guaranteed, so everyone knew and understood that, so we won't go into more detail. But the problem is that after the player from Thach That announced his decision, the (belated) admissions came rushing in.
Former coach of the Vietnam National Team, Philippe Troussier, also shared his thoughts about Van Quyet, in which he assessed that this player “has a rare mindset and imagination”, is “a big name in the history of Vietnamese football” and he “always respects” him. However, like his predecessor Park Hang-seo and many other coaches who have led the team, no one can make that “rare talent” fully develop.
To put it bluntly, taking advantage of and exploiting potential and talent has been a problem for Vietnamese football for many years, for many people, not just Van Quyet. Why? Because of the existence of the football mindset that Vietnamese players “can only play defense-counterattack but cannot attack”.
Mr. Troussier tried to change and failed, but that was the consequence of the lack of continuity in youth training, not that Vietnamese football could not attack. Van Quyet could have become a "conductor" in the team's playing style, surrounded by factors that were in harmony - just take the example of a few times Van Quyet and Quang Hai connected in the last match, even though they had not been teammates at the club for several years.
So, Van Quyet’s parting is of course regrettable but also reasonable. Because he himself shared that there was a “disconnect” with the younger players. It was not simply a few bad passes… Van Quyet had to choose something in a place that “didn’t belong to him”…
Why?
One day after Van Quyet's story, Hoang Duc also said goodbye to The Cong club. From V.League, the 26-year-old midfielder joined Ninh Binh in the First Division. Although talking about the club's and Hoang Duc's personal ambitions to bring Ninh Binh football back to V.League, people paid more attention to the Hai Duong player's admission: "Need good finances to take care of the family".
Not long ago, Hoang Duc had the desire to play football abroad. But in the end, on the balance between “career development” and “economics”, the prospect of failure outside Vietnam’s borders became the weight that lifted the economic option higher.
Why not another club in V.League? Maybe Hoang Duc needs time to “digest the sadness” of saying goodbye to the team he has been with for many years, and does not want to face his old team so soon, so he is relegated to the First Division. But whatever it is, it is still a problem of Vietnamese football.
The development after more than 20 years of professionalism is completely inadequate to create a playground that is attractive, convincing and ensures that players can survive and from there become a foundation, a springboard for them to move forward to new horizons. Instead, players have to play in lower quality leagues to earn money to support their families and help their relatives.
A footballer's career is only 20 years at most (that's the world), but their family stays with them for much longer. So when top stars are also entangled in financial matters, it is Vietnamese football that suffers.
