The team will participate in the 2025 AVC Champions League from May 11 to May 18. After many years of absence, this year, the national men's team took the name Sport Center 3, replacing the Border Guard club competing in the tournament.
To prepare for this tournament as well as international missions in 2025, coach Tran Dinh Tien has selected 18 faces to focus on. However, due to some objective factors, the Vietnam men's volleyball team only has 16 players left, with striker Nguyen Xuan Duc and setter Pham Thoai Khuong withdrawing from the team for different reasons. The coaching staff decided not to call up additional players and keep the current squad.
Previously, in the first phase of the training plan, the Vietnam men's volleyball team conducted a training program in Da Nang. However, due to some shortcomings after a few days of training here, coach Tran Dinh Tien and his team returned to Hanoi for training.
According to a team member, during the recent 30.4-1.5 holiday, some players still stayed to maintain training. It is known that coach Tran Dinh Tien and the coaching staff prioritize improving the players' physical condition and strength.
In the training sessions, male players are focused on physical training exercises, jumping power, endurance and quick recovery in competition. This is understandable, because when competing internationally, in addition to tactics, the Vietnamese men's volleyball team needs to ensure their physical strength to face strong opponents.
According to the draw results, coach Tran Dinh Tien and his team are in Group D with opponents Al-Rayyan (Qatar) and Bahrain Club (Bahrain). For men's volleyball, these are 2 countries with a large investment level and are highly appreciated in continental competitions.
In addition, the above teams also have a good physical foundation. Therefore, the difficulties for Ngoc Thuan and his teammates were predicted early.
Although Vietnamese men's volleyball has made remarkable progress in terms of expertise and tactics in recent years, especially in the ability to coordinate attacks quickly, when entering the international arena, physical strength is always the " knot" that makes the team difficult.
In international tournaments, the most obvious weakness is the decline in physical strength at the end of set 2 and especially set 3 and onwards. Vietnamese athletes often lose steam in long, slower tug-of-war matches or retreat to defend, reducing the accuracy in first-step catching as well as attack.
In most tournaments, continuous competition density is also a challenge. If players are not physically prepared, they will not only not be able to compete with their opponents in the match but also not have the ability to recover quickly, easily leading to injuries or poor performance.
In terms of the strength of the opponents who will meet in the upcoming group stage of the tournament, Vietnam's professional level is not too inferior. However, when facing strong teams with superior physical strength, they overwhelm in all situations that require speed and rebound. This is probably the biggest difference today.
Therefore, focusing on improving physical fitness in the preparation period for the AVC Champions League 2025 this time is a reasonable preparation stage, helping Dinh Van Duy and his teammates be ready to compete with the goal of achieving the best possible results.
