To reach higher, Vietnamese football must be stronger

Age of extreme fitness

The 2026 World Cup has gone through more than 90 matches and is only about 2 weeks away from closing. Through the matches, experts can recognize many tactical trends, but the most obvious is the rise of power football.

Strength here is first of all physique, fitness, toughness and the ability to clash fiercely. The presence of 10 African teams contributes to clarifying this trend. However, not only African teams, but many European, South American, North American and even Asian teams must also adapt to survive in an increasingly physically rich game.

In other words, physique is just a "representative image" of things like endurance, impact, speed, psychological strength, technical strength, tactics. And those are also just aspects representing each individual player, to connect, create the strength of the team (systematicness and cohesion), with factors such as understanding of tactics, cohesion and role sharing to team depth.

Regardless of the speed at which the match takes place, in certain areas, certain areas on the field, factors such as pressing, collisions become the main topic. So, are players like: Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Bernado Silva, Brahim Diaz... disadvantaged in the encirclement of giants? In terms of physique, it is true, but in addition to outstanding skills, they - and even other players with good physique techniques - are forced to train to have the right strength to exist and shine in their own way.

What strategy for Vietnamese football?

In fact, Vietnamese football is not without good physique players, but if we don't count some naturalized factors, the general level is still not stable if entering the world arena.

According to recent statistics, the average height of the Vietnamese team at 1m80 is a positive sign, however, as mentioned, strength is not only in physique.

The Japanese team - ranked 36th/48 teams in terms of average height (181.3cm), is highly appreciated for its technique, even though it only reached the round of 32. The important thing is that, after many years of seriously implementing its development strategy, Japan has approached the top group of world football, so that they dare to declare the championship in the not too distant future.

Returning to Vietnamese football, strategy is not non-existent but has been mentioned for a long time, but the way it is implemented feels superficial. When enhancing stature takes many years, the strategic axis is still only 3 points. First, physical development - with personalized nutrition, fitness science to develop core muscle groups, speed endurance and balance right from the age group U13-U15. Second, upgrading intensity and tactical thinking in V.League. Third, shaping identity, maybe not the highest but fast enough, durable enough and disciplined enough.