Long road to know good horse

It is legitimate for Vietnamese fans to have high demands and want their team to win even in friendly matches. It is a dream and aspiration that the country's football will be raised to a higher level, and one day it will be on par with the football powers of the continent.

However, it is a bit hasty and subjective for some fans to conclude and criticize the playing style, football philosophy and the ability to succeed of coach Philippe Troussier with Vietnamese football. In football, no one evaluates the success and ability of a coach through friendly matches. Football must be real combat in tournaments, official matches, and must be a constant effort to practice and improve. Today we may still be limited, but tomorrow we will improve - that is the spirit that the French coach has instilled in his students in recent days. Therefore, although the home team has not achieved the desired results, Mr. Troussier still believes in his students and the roadmap he has set.

“I am satisfied with the performance of the players,” coach Philippe Troussier affirmed after U23 Vietnam lost 0-4 to U23 UAE. Accordingly, the French coach is interested in the spirit and ability to react on the field of the players instead of the results in the friendly matches. Through the tournament in Qatar, what he wants is to see the true capacity and weaknesses of U23 Vietnam.

Looking back at the past two matches, we can see that the inherent weakness of U23 Vietnam is physical strength and experience. This is also a common problem of generations of Vietnamese players over the years. Before the V-League was established under a professional mechanism, the physical strength of Vietnamese players was assessed to only be enough to compete in one half. In recent times, a series of professional football training "incubators" have been established to help improve the physical strength and stature of Vietnamese football players, which was most clearly demonstrated during the time of Coach Park Hang-seo. However, when compared to the continental level, the physical strength and fitness of Vietnamese players are still limited. Moreover, looking at the current list of U23 Vietnam, the number of players over 1.8m tall is quite small.

In addition, the ball control and attack tactics that coach Philippe Troussier applied to U23 Vietnam still need a lot of time to perfect. This is a style of play that requires team spirit, individuals must have a very good technical foundation and physical strength. That is also the reason why after nearly a month of training, the U23 Vietnam coaching staff has continuously "stuffed" physical strength, requiring very high expertise on the training ground. Moreover, through real combat and tournaments, Mr. Philippe Troussier will have adjustments, changes in tactics and philosophy to better suit the Vietnamese players.

Coach Philippe Troussier's immediate goal with U23 Vietnam is to successfully defend the SEA Games gold medal; with the Vietnam national team, it is to improve the level in regional and continental competitions and compete for a place in the 2026 World Cup. He even affirmed that the World Cup is not a distant goal for Vietnamese football; that bringing Vietnam to the World Cup is the most important goal of his career. It is still too early to judge the success or failure of Coach Philippe Troussier with U23 Vietnam and Vietnamese football. The most important thing right now is that we need to look at it objectively: Mr. Philippe Troussier has only been in charge of U23 Vietnam for nearly a month, and has only had a few training sessions with the Vietnam national team.

U23 Vietnam needs to learn from experience and overcome limitations to play well in the match against U23 Kyrgyzstan. This is an opponent of equal level to us and will be an opportunity for coach Philippe Troussier and his team to regain their spirit and image. A victory against U23 Kyrgyzstan will help fans dispel doubts about U23 Vietnam and coach Troussier himself.

The road ahead is still long and arduous for Vietnamese football and coach Philippe Troussier. “A long road is the only way to know a good horse”, more time and opportunities are needed for the French coach to prove his worth.

PHAM DIEP

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