Nguyen Xuan Son (12), a naturalized player, has left many marks playing for the Vietnamese national team.
Recently, VFF has coordinated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to send a dispatch to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Public Security to support and speed up the naturalization process for foreign players with the ability and desire to contribute to Vietnamese football. Currently, many foreign players in V.League have met the 5-year condition of living and playing football in Vietnam and can apply for naturalization. Notable names include: Gustavo Santana (SHB Da Nang), Rimario Gordon (Dong A Thanh Hoa), Janclesio or Geovane Magno (Ninh Binh).
This move shows the openness in the VFF's policy of using naturalized players, as well as the leadership mindset of Coach Kim Sang-sik, who is said to be ready to call up a number of qualified foreign players to the national team.
However, the big question is whether Rimario, Gustavo Santana, Geovane Magno or most recently Hendrio Araujo, who has officially obtained Vietnamese nationality with the new name Do Hoang Hen, will really help the team become stronger, or will it open up a stream of controversial opinions?
Before being eligible for Vietnamese citizenship, it cannot be denied that the above foreign players were among the best players in V.League over the past half decade.
Rimario won the Golden Boot in the 2022 season, Geovane Magno left a strong impression with 38 goals and 26 assists after 117 matches in the highest level of Vietnamese football.
Meanwhile, the central defender duo Gustavo and Janclesio have long affirmed their class with ideal physique and rich playing experience. With Hendrio, he is bringing football from the famous La Masia academy to the clubs of Binh Dinh, Nam Dinh and now Hanoi to create new vitality for V.League.
However, the common point of all the foreign players mentioned above is that they have passed the age of 30, the age when their performance and fitness begin to decline. Rimario, Hendrio, Gustavo and Geovane Magno are all 31 years old, while Janclesio is 32 years old. Not to mention, the performance of the foreign players mentioned above in the 2025/2026 season is all under big question marks.
With Rimario, the Jamaican striker was expected to help Dong A Thanh Hoa become a "dark horse" this season, but a serious ligament injury at the beginning of the 2024/2025 season caused him to lose his scoring instinct. Geovane Magno, after joining Ninh Binh , could no longer maintain his form, as he was only the third choice on the attack line.
Meanwhile, the central defender duo Janclesio and Gustavo Santana have yet to play a single minute in the V.League this season, as they will only be eligible to play after completing the naturalization process. As for Hendrio, although he has just returned to play after nearly half a year on the sidelines, whether he can return to his peak is still a big question mark. Although the experience and technique of the player who grew up in La Masia are still there, age has begun to make it difficult for him to maintain his form and fitness like in his peak.
VFF was right and successful with the naturalization of Nguyen Xuan Son (Rafaelson), but the 2024 AFF Cup champion is a "rare" and special case. Xuan Son came to Vietnam to play when he was only 22 years old, and after only 5 years, he wore the national team jersey at the most ripe time of his career.
Before being called up by Coach Kim Sang-sik, Xuan Son was in the top 10 players with the most goals in the world in 2024, a number that is enough to prove his outstanding class and forced the VFF's professional department and Coach Kim to make a breakthrough decision to call back a foreign player to the Vietnam national team after more than a decade.
After the success of Nguyen Xuan Son, more and more foreign players have expressed their desire to contribute to the Vietnam national team. However, if we look at their professional quality and potential contribution to the team, there are still big questions. Coach Kim Sang Sik is aiming for a revolution in the playing style of the Vietnam national team, with the goal of harmonizing domestic players and qualified naturalized players. However, this combination needs to be done carefully and reasonably, avoiding the possibility of creating the opposite effect, affecting the identity, cohesion and general spirit of the national team.
VU PHONG
Source: https://nhandan.vn/cau-thu-nhap-tich-co-giup-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-manh-hon-post919744.html
Comment (0)