Coach Troussier: 'Vietnam does not have continental talent'
In the press conference on the afternoon of August 24, coach Troussier said that after watching the tournaments, he felt that there were no real Vietnamese players playing abroad. Cong Phuong (Japan) and Van Toan (South Korea) have not played a match at the club since June. The French leader also commented that the strikers playing in the country are in low form, scoring average. average two to three goals this season. The two domestic players who scored the most goals in the V-League 2023 are Van Quyet (8 goals) and Pham Tuan Hai (5) both belong to Hanoi FC.
The second fact Troussier pointed out is that "Vietnam does not have outstanding talent on the continent", instead the strength of the team is made up of solidarity and collectiveness. He took the example of Hai Phong who had just had a good performance in the AFC Champions League play-off thanks to the collective ability even though he did not own any stars.
To improve the quality of the team, the 68-year-old leader mentioned the source of overseas Vietnamese players and hoped that the naturalization process of goalkeeper Filip Nguyen would go smoothly. "I'm sure Filip Nguyen is a quality addition if you have the nationality," he said. "It is impossible to ignore the great amount of experience of the goalkeeper who has played in a number of quality tournaments in Europe."
From September 1, the Vietnamese team will focus on preparing for a friendly match with Palestine. Coach Troussier almost certainly still summons Cong Phuong and Van Toan despite having little chance to play at club level. "It's too early to remove them from the summons list," coach Troussier said. "The level of Cong Phuong and Van Toan is still slightly better than many regular players in the V-League".
The French coach said that if in France, the national team will choose high-quality players who must play regularly in the Champions League and top national championships. But Vietnam is not rich in such good players, so Cong Phuong and Van Toan are special cases.
Coach Troussier started smoothly with the Vietnamese team when they both won 1-0 Hong Kong and Syria in a friendly in June. In the near future, the team will meet Palestine on September 11, three strong teams China, Uzbekistan. , Korea from October 10 to October 17. Vietnam is still in the process of construction and completion. "Football's philosophy is to proactively determine fate on the field through ball control," he said.
Like in June, coach Troussier mixed the national team and U23 Vietnam to find the right faces. Therefore, the best squad will appear in the two qualifying matches of the 2026 World Cup against the Philippines and Iraq in November.
Before focusing on the national team, coach Troussier let Vietnam U23 join forces with 22 players, most of them new faces. Most of the players in this group will not have the opportunity to qualify for the 2023 AFC U23 Championship in early September, because many good players will be added after August 27 when the 2023 V-League and the Southeast Asian U23 tournament. 2023 ends the curtain. In addition, he called four players from the national team, central defender Que Ngoc Hai, midfielder Nguyen Tuan Anh and strikers Dinh Thanh Binh and Nguyen Tien Linh, to join the army early because they belong to clubs that have completed phase II V. -League 2023.
