Expert: "V-League referees are weak, Vietnamese players suffer when facing VAR"

This habit, according to Mr. Duong Vu Lam, not only comes from the players, but also from the lack of courage of domestic referees when handling foul situations.

Former Vice President of VFF, former head of VFF Referee Board Duong Vu Lam (right).

In addition to his position as the former Vice President of VFF, Mr. Duong Vu Lam also held the position of Head of the VFF Referee Committee and Deputy Head of the Referee Committee of the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) in the past, so he has a lot of experience in refereeing. Mr. Duong Vu Lam spoke with Dan Tri reporter.

Habits in V-League harm Vietnamese players when they join the national team

Not only at the 2023 Asian Cup, but also in most major international tournaments using video assistant referee (VAR) technology, Vietnamese players often receive many red cards and many penalties. What do you think is the reason?

- First of all, this comes from the technical gap between us and teams of international level. Our poor technical skills compared to our opponents make it easy for players to lose their composure.

Vietnamese players are prone to getting red cards in international tournaments, stemming from habits formed in domestic tournaments (Photo: AP).

For example, when we were behind and had nothing to lose in the match against Iraq, it felt like the Vietnamese team played more confidently when we equalized 2-2. But after equalizing, the whole team seemed to show a fear of losing, of not being able to maintain the draw.

Second, being penalized with many serious fouls and being given many red cards, as well as having to suffer many penalties comes from the habits of players in domestic tournaments.

What exactly is this habit, sir?

- Another example of Thanh Binh's shirt pulling situation in the match with Indonesia, we rarely see international football where the opponent's shirt is pulled for such a long and obvious period, and it happened in the 16m50 area.

This is a habit, but if this situation happens in the V-League, sometimes the referees do not handle the foul. Or when the referee handles the player's foul, the teams react strongly immediately, because they themselves do not think they committed the foul.

The Vietnamese team is prone to making fatal mistakes in international tournaments (Photo: AP).

Next is the tackle that led to Khuat Van Khang's red card in the Iraq match. In my opinion, he did not mean it maliciously, but a red card was inevitable for such a tackle. However, if this situation happened in a domestic tournament, it is unlikely that the V-League referee would have handled it as decisively as an international referee.

Domestic referees lack determination when handling domestic player's fouls

Does this mean that the habit of Vietnamese players committing serious fouls also comes from the lack of determination of some domestic referees?

- Firstly, the domestic league has not had VAR for a long time, many matches starting from the current season have not used this technology, the fouls have not been reviewed many times by the referees. These errors have not been analyzed carefully right after they occur.

Second, the referees themselves lack courage and decisiveness, especially lacking courage and decisiveness to handle some players of some big teams in the V-League.

Iraq had two penalty opportunities in the match against the Vietnamese team (Photo: AP).

Let's review some names that have received red cards for rough play while playing for the Vietnamese national team in major international tournaments, often falling into a certain group of players from certain teams in domestic tournaments.

There are players who are famous for their fierce play in the V-League, but it is only when they compete in international tournaments using VAR technology that these players are punished for the fouls they often commit. That means they receive a deserved red card in the international arena.

Many V-League referees are unprofessional and lack courage, causing Vietnamese players to suffer when playing internationally, in tournaments with VAR technology.

Vietnamese players need to learn from their own experiences when participating in tournaments with VAR (Photo: AP).

What about the ball-fighting techniques of Vietnamese players in situations that lead to these errors, sir?

- This is also another problem. I think that players from other teams also commit fouls, a lot of them, but they play very discreetly, not as openly as Vietnamese players.

Maybe they have also studied the way the Vietnamese team played and made mistakes before. For example, the Iraqi players only need to be one step faster than us to be able to force the Vietnamese players into a foul in the 16m50 area. Because as mentioned, our movements are quite obvious.

That could also be the difference between continental level and domestic level, the difference between tournaments with VAR and tournaments without VAR. International players have more experience when participating in international tournaments, more experience than Vietnamese players when facing matches with VAR.

Thank you for the conversation!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/chuyen-gia-trong-tai-v-league-yeu-cau-thu-viet-nam-kho-khi-gap-var-20240125125626305.htm