Vietnam National Team: Need to remove naturalization bottlenecks

The Vietnamese team needs a smarter and more effective naturalization strategy to increase its strength.

WORRY ABOUT NATURALIZATION

The comprehensive 0-4 defeat against Malaysia, which has many naturalized players, has left the Vietnamese team with many worries. Even more than the possibility of missing out on a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup, doubts surround the future of the team, or even more so, the entire Vietnamese football scene.

From being eliminated in the group stage of the last two AFF Cups and not being able to beat Cambodia, Malaysia has become a completely different team thanks to naturalizing... the entire squad in less than a year. Just like Indonesia last year (beating Vietnam in both matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers thanks to naturalized players), Malaysia will take advantage of the momentum from the victory in Bukit Jalil on the evening of June 10 to continue to bring in players with European or South American blood. This country will have more players on par with, or even better than, current naturalized stars such as Facundo Garces (center back for La Liga club Alaves) or Joao Figueiredo (striker for Istanbul Basaksehir of Turkey). Because like Indonesia, Malaysia has an open naturalization policy, is very open to players of foreign origin, and is not afraid to spend money to invite talented players to contribute.

Cao Pendant Quang Vinh (13) made his debut for the Vietnamese national team.

PHOTO: NGOC LINH

Not to mention Indonesia or Malaysia "eating quickly" to succeed, it is clear that the strategy of mass naturalization has been, is and will be exchanged for short-term achievements. And achievements are not the engine, but the "lubricant" for the machine called football to operate effectively.

Can the Vietnamese team compete with its rivals in naturalization? After many years, Vietnam's mindset of accepting naturalized players has become more open. Cao Pendant Quang Vinh, Nguyen Filip, Dang Van Lam, Nguyen Xuan Son have all been called up to the national team, in which Van Lam and Xuan Son have both left a deep impression.

However, it is clear that compared to the stars playing in the Netherlands, Türkiye, Spain or Portugal that Malaysia and Indonesia possess, the level of naturalized Vietnamese players is quite far behind. For example, the transfer value of Quang Vinh, who played for 8 years for Sochaux Club, is only 1/4 of Figueiredo (the striker who tore the net against Vietnam in the previous match).

Should we naturalize players en masse: Lessons from other football backgrounds?

MECHANISM KNOT

Why are the naturalized Vietnamese players not good enough? We need to look at the two sources of players that Vietnamese football is taking advantage of, which are overseas Vietnamese (half Vietnamese) and foreign players who have played football in Vietnam for 5 years. Vietnamese football does not lack talent overseas Vietnamese, such as Yohan Cabaye (grandmother is Vietnamese) or Ibrahim Maza (mother is Vietnamese). However, good players are often sought after by stronger teams than Vietnam (like Cabaye choosing France, Maza choosing Algeria). It is not surprising that they are looking for better options.

For overseas Vietnamese who have little chance to play for any national team other than Vietnam, we are currently only promoting naturalization for those who play in the V-League, such as Quang Vinh and Nguyen Filip. Players who do not choose to return to Vietnam will have little chance of receiving citizenship. And frankly speaking, good players will choose to play in developed football countries, not many choose to play in the V-League.

Vietnamese football needs a suitable development strategy.

Meanwhile, Malaysia and Indonesia do not require players to return to play in their home country before granting citizenship. Their open policies allow Malaysia and Indonesia to bring in many talented people in a short period of time. For Vietnam, that is impossible.

With the story of naturalized foreign players playing in Vietnam for 5 years, we have few good players, because the teams are not willing to spend money to bring in quality foreign players. Xuan Son, who came to Vietnam at the age of 22, is a very rare exception. Most players who have been in Vietnam for 5 years are old and no longer suitable foreign.

In order to hunt for quality naturalized players, both FAM (Fascist Association of Malaysia) and PSSI (Football Association of Indonesia) have invested heavily, establishing talent search committees, closely collaborating with clubs, spending money on scouting teams to search and screen daily... On the contrary, Vietnam currently outsources the task of finding overseas Vietnamese talent to clubs. Unable to mobilize total strength, combined with the bottleneck mechanism, the Vietnamese team can only naturalize in small amounts.

Commentator Vu Quang Huy shared: "Vietnamese football needs to be more open, find ways to mobilize all resources, including overseas Vietnamese or naturalized foreign players." Expert Doan Minh Xuong also agreed, however, he said that the Vietnamese team should naturallyize wisely, knowing which positions are weak to import, but cannot import massively, lacking direction, leading to no room for domestic players to perform.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-viet-nam-can-thao-go-diem-nghen-nhap-tich-185250612173519226.htm