Overseas Vietnamese players will help U.23 Vietnam become more classy

Both Bui Alex and Viktor Le, two overseas Vietnamese players, have to work hard to prove themselves to have a place in the U.23 Vietnam team.

Potential confirmed

Viktor Le and Bui Alex are the rare overseas Vietnamese faces on the preliminary list of U.23 Vietnam preparing for the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament. However, in the context that coach Kim Sang-sik plans to eliminate 12 players to finalize the official list of 23 faces, the competition will be very fierce, and overseas Vietnamese players will not easily stay.

Both have shown their potential in previous training sessions. With Viktor Le, his 24 matches in the V-League this season (14 starting matches) and good impression in the international U.23 tournament held in March have shown that the player born in 2003 is a quality "seed".

Bui Alex and Viktor Le (right photo) , 2 overseas Vietnamese players in the preliminary list of U.23 Vietnam

PHOTO: VFF - MINH TU

According to assistant coach Dinh Hong Vinh, Viktor Le is sharp, aggressive, and plays energetically as a right-sided striker in a 3-4-3 formation. Although he does not have an ideal physique, Viktor Le presses very enthusiastically, is not afraid of collisions, and always plays with passion. That is the necessary spirit of a young player. At the same time, the Russian-born player handles the ball relatively neatly, suitable for the fast ball rotation style that coach Kim Sang-sik plans to build for U.23 Vietnam.

Bui Alex is quite versatile, playing many positions in the attack such as center forward, winger or striker. Bui Alex was born in 2005 in the Czech Republic. He is 1.78 m tall and is playing for the youth team of Bohemians Praha 1905 in the Czech Republic's third division. This young talent has a modern football development mindset, as well as a good physique thanks to being trained in a European football environment. After only 1 week of training, he was able to play in an internal friendly match between the Vietnamese team and U.23 Vietnam. Although he has not touched the ball much, Bui Alex has had valuable experience. He is the "youngest brother" of U.23 Vietnam, and was trusted when he was young.

However, Viktor Le and Bui Alex are only competing for positions. In terms of expertise, both are not superior to the rest. Viktor Le has played in the V-League for 3 years, but is still only "sufficient" in the Ha Tinh team led by coach Nguyen Thanh Cong, without any major breakthrough.

Bui Alex lacks experience with Vietnamese football because he only played in the Czech Republic. In fact, players returning from the Czech Republic, such as Mac Hong Quan in the past or Andrej Nguyen An Khanh at present, are only on par with, or even worse than (in the case of An Khanh) domestic players.

In terms of experience, it is clear that this overseas Vietnamese duo cannot compare with players who have played for the national team such as Thai Son, Dinh Bac, Trung Kien, Ly Duc, Vi Hao (who will return at the end of this year) or Van Truong.

Care from the root

President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Tran Quoc Tuan affirmed: "Vietnam football will not naturalize players en masse like Malaysia and Indonesia, but will have a specific player development strategy, with the youth as the core. The U.23, U.20, and U.17 Vietnam teams have all been invested in domestic and international training, and played friendly tournaments to improve their skills. In particular, recently, U.23 Vietnam and U.17 Vietnam played friendly matches in China and made remarkable progress."

The young generation, especially the U.23, will continue to be the launching pad for the Vietnamese team, with the age close to the threshold of the national team. With the current personnel, the U.23 Vietnam team cannot rely much on overseas Vietnamese players but mainly waits for domestic players trained in the country. The good news for coach Kim Sang-sik is that the generation of players born in 2003 - 2004 has revealed some potential in training sessions and friendly tournaments, although they still lack specific achievements to prove their ability.

That does not mean that overseas Vietnamese players are weak in the competition. Because as mentioned, although there is a language barrier (both Viktor Le and Bui Alex do not speak Vietnamese fluently, they mainly use English), and have not adapted to the weather, culture and lifestyle in Vietnam, both of them are eager to express themselves, practice professionally and have a progressive spirit.

Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh affirmed that U.23 Vietnam will make efforts to help Viktor Le and Bui Alex adapt. Bui Alex shared that the players have been open and supported him a lot in daily life and training. That is a good foundation for overseas Vietnamese players to get closer to the team. If both have a place, the bridge for overseas Vietnamese young talents to return home to contribute will open.

The Vietnamese national team has opened its doors to overseas Vietnamese players for more than a decade. Many faces have returned to contribute to their homeland, such as Dang Van Lam, Nguyen Filip, Adriano Schmidt, Cao Pendant Quang Vinh, Michal Nguyen... Not everyone is successful, but you have to go to find a way. In the context of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, or even Cambodia are urgently recruiting players with half foreign blood, Vietnamese football needs to filter out quality and patriotic overseas Vietnamese faces from a young age, in order to nurture the national team in the future.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cau-thu-viet-kieu-se-giup-u23-viet-nam-dang-cap-hon-185250624222316244.htm