U23 Vietnam: Why is it difficult for overseas Vietnamese players to stay?

Most overseas Vietnamese players who return to their homeland to play for Vietnam from U17 to U23 level cannot stay, despite high expectations. What is the reason?

Name the "unfinished dreams"

The story of overseas Vietnamese players returning to their homeland to play for youth teams always creates a lot of hope for fans. However, the harsh reality shows that the journey for them to stay and contribute to the country's football is not easy.

Most recently, young striker Bui Alex, who grew up at the Bohemians Praha training center (Czech Republic), had to say goodbye to U23 Vietnam right before the U23 Southeast Asian tournament. Before that, Andrej Nguyen An Khanh also left early after returning home.

Bui Alex was expected, but in the end could not win a place in the U23 Southeast Asian tournament.

At the U17 level, cases like Thomas Mai Veeren, who had an impressive performance at the Dutch youth tournament, or Maxwell James Peereboom, despite expectations, could not convince the coaching staff to participate in important tournaments.

The above names are not unique, many overseas Vietnamese were once expected, carrying the label of "young European talents", but then quietly left without leaving any significant mark in the colors of Vietnam's youth teams.

What are the barriers?

The reason why overseas Vietnamese players cannot stay in youth teams is often explained by many reasons. Part of it may come from the "inflated" ability based on the fact that they are playing in a European environment. Sometimes, the "overseas Vietnamese" label unintentionally creates expectations that are greater than reality.

However, the deeper and more decisive reason probably lies in the differences in football culture and lifestyle, language and even weather.

Young players who grow up and train in Europe are used to a professional, highly disciplined environment, along with differences in language, cuisine and lifestyle.

Success like Nguyen Filip and Dang Van Lam is quite rare.

When returning to Vietnam, they face big changes that require time and high adaptability. Many have difficulty integrating with teammates or getting used to a different football philosophy.

Rare successful cases like Viktor Le, Nguyen Filip, Dang Van Lam or Cao Quang Vinh all have one important thing in common: they have previously played football or lived in Vietnam.

Even before becoming famous and playing the role of hero in the Vietnamese national team, Dang Van Lam went through a period of crisis due to cultural differences and integration.

From the above successful examples, it seems that in order to contribute to the Vietnamese national teams, overseas Vietnamese players need to return to their homeland to play football.

But, this is clearly not an easy choice because in reality, the Vietnamese football environment has never seemed attractive enough for young overseas Vietnamese players who still have room for development.

This is a problem that cannot be solved overnight for both Vietnamese football players and managers.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/u23-viet-nam-vi-sao-cau-thu-viet-kieu-kho-tru-lai-2421244.html