Need to improve the quality of foreign players in V-League

FAINT

In the debut match of Hanoi FC, Coach Le Duc Tuan could not rest assured when his players shot 16 times but only 3 times the ball hit the goal (3 times were blocked, 10 times went out). Striker Joao Pedro Silva had 4 shots go out, the accuracy of the pass was very low (only 50%) before being replaced in the 80th minute. The player valued at 22 billion VND, Augustine Chidi Kwem, was only rated 6.8 points by sofascore with 2 shots (1 on target, 1 out) in 28 minutes on the field. But this parameter is still better than the foreign players of Binh Dinh FC. Gabriel Morbeck (6.7 points) did not have a single shot in 60 minutes of play (partly because he mainly played a defensive role from a distance). Alisson Farias was even worse, receiving a score of 6.4 when playing the full 90 minutes but only shot 1 out.

Joao Pedro Silva (80) of Hanoi Club disappointed in the opening match.

The disappointment in foreign players was also evident in the two 0-0 draws at Thong Nhat Stadium and Vinh Stadium, where strikers Erik Sorgea, Matheus Rocha (HCMC Club), Pedro, Amarildo (Viettel The Cong Club), Olaha, Kuku (SLNA), Yuri, Werick (Da Nang Club) all played poorly...

This has led to the limited contribution of foreign strikers, with only 5/11 goals in the entire first round of V-League 2024-2025.

In summary, only Marciel (HAGL) shined with a double, Artur and Lucao both scored in the 1-1 draw between Hai Phong Club and Hanoi Police Club (CAHN) at Lach Tray Stadium. In that situation, the clubs had to rely on the brilliance of domestic players, such as Tien Linh's double helping Binh Duong Club win 2-1 in Thanh Hoa, Van Quyet with a tricky shot helped coach Le Duc Tuan get 3 full points on his debut day. Or overseas Vietnamese center-back Adou Minh marked his return to his homeland with a header helping Ha Tinh Club unexpectedly defeat Nam Dinh Club 1-0.

RISK OF LOOKING FOR FOREIGN SOLDIERS

Nam Dinh Club won the 2023-2024 V-League with a devastating performance, in which the duo Rafaelson - Hendrio contributed 41 goals, more than 9/13 of the other V-League teams. When Rafaelson was absent waiting to complete the procedure to become a domestic player (Vietnamese name is Nguyen Xuan Son), Nam Dinh Club's attack immediately "lost its shape", leaving Ha Tinh empty-handed. This shows that they are too dependent on Xuan Son despite registering up to 6 foreign players (AFC Champions League does not limit foreign players - PV). It is not without reason that Hanoi Club captain Van Quyet said bluntly: "I have not highly appreciated foreign players, not only from Hanoi Club. I see that many foreign players in V-League do not ensure the quality to improve Vietnamese football. I hope that the teams will add good foreign players so that our domestic players can learn, so that the team will be better, the tournament will be better as well as the Vietnamese team will be stronger".

Without waiting for Van Quyet to speak up, the quality of foreign players has been a problem of the V-League for many years, especially when Vietnam was affected by consecutive economic crises, and recently the Covid-19 pandemic. After the golden period of 2008 - 2012 attracting many of the best foreign players in the region, the decline in economic potential has made Vietnamese clubs inferior to those in Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia. Frankly speaking, in recent years the quality of foreign players in the V-League has "rocked out", improved but still not seen many faces that can bring special football emotions like Kesley, Philani, Leandro... in the past. In fact, there are teams that have spent a lot of money to buy foreign players with very good records, such as Hanoi Club, CAHN, Binh Duong... with a salary of around 20,000 USD/month (about 500 million VND), but the results are still more sad than happy. This makes many teams with average financial conditions still loyal to the habit of waiting for foreign players to come for a trial, with a salary of 3,500 - 5,000 USD/month (about 85 - 125 million VND). You get what you pay for, with this salary, the quality of V-League foreign players is difficult to be high.

"The low quality of V-League's Westerners also comes from the fact that Vietnam still lacks reputable agents to build a wide network, partly due to the opportunistic way of working of some agents, leading to the negative connotation of the nickname "player broker", a player representative shared.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/can-cai-thien-chat-luong-ngoai-binh-ov-league-185240918225057322.htm