Should Vietnamese football participate deeply in the naturalization race like Malaysia and Indonesia?

This is a question that needs to be seriously asked after the heavy 0-4 defeat of the Vietnam team against Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on the evening of June 10.

Vietnam team is inferior to Malaysia's naturalized players - Photo: ANH KHOA

There are two schools of thought to answer this question.

One opinion is that despite losing, the Vietnamese team should not participate deeply in the naturalization race like other countries. This is because the foundation and root of football must still be training and developing youth teams. Those with more open minds believe that only 2-3 necessary positions should be naturalized, not massively.

What if the Vietnamese team had 9 naturalized players and 2 local players on the field like the Malaysian team last night (June 10)?

Achievements are of course important, but Vietnamese identity, spirit and pride are equally important.

Another opinion on social media supports the naturalization of players. These people believe that the physical strength of Vietnamese people cannot be improved immediately. Therefore, to have good results in sports in general and football in particular, naturalization is necessary.

Naturalizing and training young players at the same time to have a foundation is also a good development direction. Moreover, naturalizing players is a common trend of world football, Vietnam cannot go against or boycott it.

Vietnam team is helpless against the naturalized stars of Malaysia team - Photo: ANH KHOA

Many countries were initially very conservative about naturalization, but now they have gradually accepted it as a matter of course.

Even the strong football teams in Europe are too familiar with naturalization. It is worth mentioning that it is the naturalized players who have brought glory to them. In that common joy, there is no distinction of origin.

However, Vietnamese fans believe that naturalization is not possible just because they want to. To operate the naturalization policy, a large budget is needed. Once there is a large budget, there must be a source of players to naturalize. However, quality players suitable for the Vietnamese national team may not be as abundant as in other countries.

The impact of the naturalization policy on Vietnamese football is obvious. Countries in the region such as Malaysia and Indonesia have grown rapidly thanks to naturalization. The Vietnamese team itself also clearly feels the role of naturalized players with the case of Brazilian striker Nguyen Xuan Son.

Whether to naturalize deeply or not is a question that needs to be answered soon because countries in the region are accelerating. And this may cause the gap in level of Vietnamese football with the region to widen further.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-da-viet-nam-co-nen-tham-gia-sau-vao-cuoc-dua-nhap-tich-nhu-malaysia-indonesia-20250611083229951.htm