Unknown stories about Lao football, where players struggle between passion and livelihood, dreaming of reaching the final of SEA Games 33

Two weeks ago, when the Vietnamese team met Laos at New Laos National Stadium, according to reporter Phuc Nghia (TedTran TV), not a single Lao reporter appeared in the practice session before the match.

This is not surprising, because a year before the two teams met in the opening match of the 2024 ASEAN Cup, almost all the people in the capital Vientiane that I asked did not know about the match. Or in March, during the preparation for the 2025 Tien Phong Marathon, I stayed at the Quang Tri Provincial Political School (old) with many Lao students. All of them did not know that the Lao team was facing the Vietnamese team at Go Dau Stadium. Instead of sitting in front of the TV to watch the match, they gathered in the school yard and were absorbed in the Lam Vong dance.

The lack of interest from fans in the land of a million elephants is completely understandable, when Lao football is unable to create success for a long time. Like anywhere in the world , people do not go to the stadium to witness defeats.

Laos in a 0-2 defeat to Vietnam in the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers.

As failure becomes a habit, Lao football no longer dreams much about winning. As coach Ha Hyuk-jun shared in an interview with Yonhap News, "success in football is a distant dream for Lao players".

“For them, football is somewhere between ‘making a living’ and ‘passion’. Most players have a second job after football,” he said. “For example, Phathana Phommathep is a taxi driver, driving long hours on the road in the morning and training with the national team in the afternoon; while Chony Waenpaserth is working part-time at a restaurant; Phousomboun Panyavong is still a university student.”

During my time covering the ASEAN Cup 2024, I visited an artificial turf field opened by Vietnamese people in Vientiane. The manager here shared that there are quite a few professional players who come and participate in amateur matches to earn extra income. The salary of Lao people is quite low and the players are not much better off.

Coach Ha Hyuk-jun will start leading the Laos national team from August 2024.

Coach Ha Hyuk-jun said that when he first took over the job of the Laos national team, he really did not know where to start. In the top football league of Laos, there were only 8 clubs, with the top 3 teams considered "semi-professional". They lacked a proper training system and competent coaches.

"The players' physical strength is very weak, not even as good as that of Korean high school players," he said. "While high school students in Korea can run about 50 times and make 20-meter passes, the Lao players can only do it 40 times. Their mentality is also low, making it very difficult to recover after conceding goals or being reprimanded."

In a press conference before the opening match of Group B of the men's football SEA Games 33, coach Kim Sang-sik of Vietnam U22 praised his colleague Ha Hyuk-jun for what he has done for Laos football. These are not lip service.

In fact, coach Ha Hyuk-jun has been working hard, step by step, to change the face of Lao football. He persuaded the Lao Football Federation to increase training time, asked for more meat to be added to the daily diet, and provided basic tactical theories to the players in the form of documents, which he then tested every day.

Coach Ha Hyuk-jun has worked hard to change the face of Lao football.

The Korean coach also tried to adjust the attitude of his players, who were too gentle and submissive on the field. They hardly reacted to the rough or tricky moves of the opponent. He wanted the Lao players to be more aggressive, both in their fighting spirit and in their approach to the opponent.

Under coach Ha Hyuk-jun, many positive results have been produced. At the ASEAN Cup 2024, Laos impressed with a 3-3 draw with Indonesia and a 1-1 draw with the Philippines. In the Asian Cup 2026 qualifiers, they earned a win against Nepal and caused Vietnam a lot of trouble in a 0-2 loss two weeks ago.

Lao football is trying to break the stereotype that they are just losers. With the 33rd SEA Games, coach Ha Hyuk-jun has a very clear goal: to reach the final. "People can laugh at us, but with good preparation and confidence, U22 Laos can do the impossible," he affirmed, while joking that if that happens, calling him "Guus Hiddink of Laos" is not too much.

So let's wait and see if Laos has the ability to surprise and Ha Hyuk-jun becomes "Hiddink of the land of a million elephants"?

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nhung-chuyen-chua-biet-ve-bong-da-lao-noi-cau-thu-vat-lon-giua-dam-me-va-muu-sinh-mo-mong-vao-chung-ket-sea-games-33-post1801510.tpo