Coach Hoang Anh Tuan: 'I do youth football not for achievements'

The 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship is the first team title in coach Hoang Anh Tuan's career. This is considered a worthy achievement after 10 years of coaching youth teams from U17, U19, U20 to U23.

One day after the championship, the leader of the hometown Khanh Hoa and the U23 team returned to Hanoi to attend the celebration ceremony at the headquarters of the Vietnam Football Federation VFF. Here, he continued to emphasize his biggest goal with youth football. "I do youth football not for achievements," said Mr. Tuan. "The biggest concern and pressure is how many young players I coached to the national team."

Mr. Tuan was born in 1968, is a former Vietnamese football player. He used to lead Khanh Hoa and Hai Phong in the V-League, before moving to take charge of Vietnam's youth teams, from U16, U17 to U20, U23. He was the one who led Vietnam U19 to the semi-finals of the Asian U19 Championship in 2016, thereby winning tickets to the U20 FIFA World Cup in 2017 - the first world championship in which Vietnam's 11-a-side football was contributed. face.

This year, due to many U23 tournaments, Mr. Tuan was assigned to take charge of the second squad with the core being the U20 group to attend the Southeast Asian U23 tournament. He expects the 2003 generation and later, led by him, to continue to contribute a lot to the national team, as they did with the national team born in 1997, 1999 such as Quang Hai, Tien Linh, Doan Van Hau...

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan said he is working with coach Philippe Troussier to expand the number of players on the team. "The more players called up, the better chance Troussier will have of screening," Tuan said.

After the Southeast Asian U23 tournament, most players returned home to rest. A few continued to stay at VFF to gather with coach Philippe Troussier's U23 team, aiming for the 2024 Asian U23 qualifier in early September. After that, coach Hoang Anh Tuan continued to refine a squad prepared for about an hour. week for ASIAD 19 in China. Although the preparation time was short, it was not affected because most of the players had practiced and played together for a long time.

The 55-year-old military leader said that the ASIAD list will have more older players, instead of mainly the U20 age group. "At ASIAD, teams are allowed to bring the U24 squad with three overage players," said Mr. Tuan. "We will face very difficult Asian opponents, but help the players grow up and progress professionally."

At ASIAD 18 in Indonesia, the Vietnamese Olympic team under the guidance of Coach Park Hang-seo won the fourth prize. However, coach Hoang Anh Tuan did not see this as pressure because at that time the team used the best players possible. "This time, we use more young players," said the 55-year-old coach. "The VFF's goal is to screen for coach Troussier to have the best choice for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers."