CHASTE IN THE HEAD COACH OF U.20 AND U.17 VN
The strategy of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) for nearly two decades has been to always use the same coaching team for both the national team and the U.22 Vietnam team. This solution helps save costs, as one coaching team takes care of both teams, fulfilling many different tasks. At the same time, coaching both the Vietnam team and the U.22 team helps the head coach directly screen and evaluate young players, in order to select the precious gems to promote to succeed the seniors.
However, the Vietnamese national team and the U.22 team are just the tip of the iceberg. The roots of football lie in the U.20 and U.17 teams, because these ages are important for a young talent to reach adulthood. Football expert Doan Minh Xuong commented: "The ages of 19 and 20 are very important for each player, because this is almost the last age for a player to be called young. Therefore, players at the U.20 level need to be carefully cared for and nurtured at the club and national team levels."
Coach Roland helps U.17 Vietnam pass the 2025 U.17 Asian qualifiers
However, finding good coaches for Vietnam U.20 and U.17 has not been focused on for a long time. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan led Vietnam U.19 and U.20 in the period of 2015 - 2019, then resigned, leaving the coaching position of the U.20 team to Coach Philippe Troussier. In 2022, the head coach position of Vietnam U.20 belonged to Coach Dinh The Nam, and U.17 was managed by Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan. After that, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan returned to lead both U.20 and U.17 at the same time from early 2023 to mid-2024. Then when Mr. Tuan retired, his two assistants Hua Hien Vinh and Tran Minh Chien took over the U.20 and U.17 teams respectively. However, the results were not as expected.
Coach Hua Hien Vinh's team failed to bring U.20 Vietnam to the 2025 AFC U.20 Championship. Previously, Mr. Vinh's U.19 Vietnam was also eliminated in the group stage of the Southeast Asian U.19. Coach Tran Minh Chien's U.16 Vietnam was also eliminated in the Southeast Asian U.16 semi-finals. Only when this generation of players was assigned to coach Cristiano Roland did their performance improve. But Mr. Roland held the position for only 6 months and then left. Until now, although there are only 2 months left until the AFC U.17 Championship, the captain's seat of U.17 Vietnam is still unoccupied.
LONG TERM STRATEGY NEEDED
The constant change of head coach positions has put U.20 and U.17 Vietnam in an alarming situation. First of all, VFF is lacking quality domestic coaches. Coaches Hua Hien Vinh and Tran Minh Chien are both unable to handle the work of the youth team, even if it is just leading the team to compete in the Southeast Asian tournament.
The two rare domestic coaches who effectively lead the youth team, Hoang Anh Tuan and Dinh The Nam, have both resigned. In the context that the "famous" domestic coaches seem to prefer coaching in the V-League over the youth team, the U.20 and U.17 teams of Vietnam have to accept less famous and less qualified strategists. Mr. Doan Minh Xuong commented: "VFF must have a strategy for the U.17 and U.20 teams, such as how to train abroad, what kind of coaching staff, and how many matches the young players will play per year. If we have determined that this is the next generation of the Vietnam national team, we must invest immediately, without delay."
The rise of U.17 Vietnam under Mr. Roland's leadership shows that foreign coaches are probably better than domestic coaches. According to Thanh Nien Newspaper's source, VFF is negotiating to bring in a Japanese coach (with many years of experience coaching Japanese youth teams) to lead U.17 Vietnam, and possibly concurrently take on the role of U.20 Vietnam.
It's time to invest heavily in world-class coaches for youth teams, instead of "patching things up" like in recent years.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bong-da-tre-viet-nam-gian-nan-tim-thay-gioi-185250205230129984.htm
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