Vietnam Football Training Abroad: A Day's Journey...

The story of 18 young players going to Brazil for training for a year has brought about many conflicting opinions from football fans. However, this is something that Vietnamese football needs to implement and expand if it wants to bring its internal strength to a new level.

Unexpected direction

Vietnamese football sending talented players abroad for training is not new. However, the training period when going abroad lasting more than 1 year is rare in history. Before Ho Chi Minh City Club announced that 18 young players from BMG Academy and the cooperation program with Lyon (France) would be sent to Gremio (Brazil) for 1-3 years of training, the most recent and only similar case took place in... 1967.

At that time, 26 The Cong players aged 17-18 boarded a train across China to North Korea. Despite the fact that they were going abroad, the training days in a neighboring country were extremely difficult, especially in the harsh climate conditions. Newspapers at that time reported that in winter, the temperature dropped to -17 degrees Celsius. After the players finished cross-country running, their hands were so stiff that they could not take their gloves off.

During 1 year of training in North Korea, The Cong played 40 matches with other teams. There was a time when the team played an average of 1 match per day, continuously for a period of time. Thanks to that, the physical foundation of The Cong players increased dramatically. Vu Dinh Boi, The Anh, Ngoc Chi, Phan Van My, Vu Manh Hai, Duy Phu, Trong Giap, Vuong Tien Dung, Nguyen Van Nhat... matured remarkably. Later, these players quickly became pillars of The Cong and the national team in the 70s of the last century.

18 young Vietnamese players could pave the way for a revolution in internal development, based on long-term overseas trips in the near future.

The overseas training model of The Cong was then implemented in a number of clubs, especially in the past 10 years. However, the training results were not as expected by the insiders. Luong Xuan Truong, one of four players from the HAGL Arsenal JMG Academy, admitted that the trip to Arsenal was not as glamorous and successful as many people imagined. On his personal podcast, the midfielder from Tuyen Quang frankly pointed out that he, Cong Phuong, Dong Trieu, and Tuan Anh did not receive any support from coach Arsene Wenger as reported by the press. They themselves also felt lost when they could not keep up with the level of European and African players in Arsenal's youth squad at that time.

“In terms of physical exercises, we are far behind the players there. As for ball exercises, we do quite well. However, the intensity of the players there is very fast, so we get tired quickly," Xuan Truong frankly admitted. "We have difficulty communicating. The coach and teammates speak very quickly and are difficult to understand, and all use specialized terminology, words that I rarely come into contact with. Before that, I had never been in such an environment, so my English communication was only average."

What Xuan Truong, Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, Dong Trieu showed in HAGL and the Vietnamese national teams did not actually come from 2 weeks of training at Arsenal. And the trip to London at that time according to Xuan Truong was still more of a cooperation, when HAGL made a contract with the “Gunners” for more than 10 years, revolving around the construction of a youth football academy.

Several other training trips also turned into promotional trips, instead of raising the player's value as fans expected. Nguyen Le Phat, one of the three young talents of PVF Center, had the opportunity to go to Deinze Club (Belgium) to study, with a duration of 1 month. Although he affirmed that he had gained a lot of experience from his short-term overseas trip, in reality, this player still has not created a big enough breakthrough in the corresponding youth teams. Most recently, Le Phat had to say goodbye to U23 Vietnam, after not being able to prove his ability under the supervision of coach Kim Sang Sik. Another player who has not created a breakthrough when training abroad is Hoang Vinh Nguyen. It cannot be denied that two months of training at Cadiz Club (Spain) helped the Ha Tinh native improve compared to his own ability. However, compared to the expectations that fans are waiting for, Vinh Nguyen has not been able to meet.

Still need to move forward

It can be seen that, apart from the rare case of The Cong in 1967, Vietnamese football's training or competition trips for foreign clubs were basically unsuccessful.

This is also the reason for the controversy when Ho Chi Minh City Club announced that 18 players aged 17-19 would go to Gremio (Brazil) to study for 1 year. Many opinions said that Vietnamese players should go abroad earlier, that is, from 13-15 years old. There are also opinions that going to Brazil is not suitable for the physical condition and development of Vietnamese football talents.

The investment cost for this plan is not low. According to a source from the Brazilian press, Gremio will receive 700,000 USD/year (equivalent to nearly 20 billion VND) for training 18 young players from Vietnam. Meanwhile, the leader of Ho Chi Minh City Club emphasized that the cost is up to 30-40 billion VND. Among sources that do not really match the numbers, some experts believe that with the amount of up to tens of billions of VND, Ho Chi Minh City Club can choose another form of player training, with high quantity and quality.

Of course, amid the apprehension and lack of support, many fans and experts expect that young Vietnamese players need to be trained for a long time abroad. Firstly, this is what many Asian countries have applied. Based on a certain number of players going abroad and being trained, a few players can mature and create good momentum in their professional careers. Secondly, the reality of Vietnamese youth football is reaching a threshold of development in training methods. So in addition to inviting foreign experts to support and train high-level coaches, sending groups of players abroad to train, similar to other top sports, is a worthy choice to implement.

Finally, the internal strength of Vietnamese football has not been successful in competing abroad. The self-reliance and competition with European or Asian players such as Van Hau, Xuan Truong, Cong Phuong, etc. have not brought the desired results. Obviously, long-term training abroad and participation in professional youth teams at the club level are the luggage that helps Vietnamese players accumulate significant experience and integration.

Incubation plan

According to Ho Chi Minh City Club, 3 out of 18 Vietnamese players going to Brazil are in the U19 group. These 3 players will be trained for 1 year. The remaining 15 players will go long-term. But every year Ho Chi Minh City Club will screen and re-evaluate. After the first batch, the team will send a second batch with 10 more players. Thus, the long-term investment cost lasting 3-4 years can be up to hundreds of billions of VND.

Not only do they get to train in a professional football environment at the Gremio Academy, Ho Chi Minh City players also get to play friendly matches every week and participate in youth tournaments, which are common in Brazil and South America, to gain experience and improve their skills.

The Gremio Academy youth teams not only travel to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Colombia for friendly matches, but also to Germany and Portugal. Playing against opponents with different playing styles helps the Gremio Academy players to improve their attacking skills and their defensive abilities.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/bong-da-viet-nam-tap-huan-o-nuoc-ngoai-di-mot-ngay-dang-i774402/