Experts advise on resolving conflict between V-League and national team

After the 15th round of the V-League took place yesterday afternoon (April 4), Coach Vu Tien Thanh of LPBank HAGL Club commented that the V-League had just returned to play 2 matches, then had a month off, and then had to play again in a row, which was unscientific.

According to Mr. Thanh, this not only affects the quality of the tournament, but can also affect the physical condition of the players and the plans of the coaches at domestic clubs. After today's match (April 5), the 2023-24 V-League will take a break of more than 3 weeks for the Vietnam U23 team to participate in the U23 Asian Cup in Qatar from April 15 to May 3.

Regarding the above issue, Dan Tri reporter talked with football expert Doan Minh Xuong, former professional football coach who won the national championship, former lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Sports.

V-League schedule affects clubs (Photo: Manh Quan).

What is your comment on the interrupted match schedule in the V-League, as reflected by coach Vu Tien Thanh?

- Firstly, the interruption of tournaments is a characteristic of Vietnamese football. This has been happening for many years. Recently, there has been progress when domestic tournaments have adjusted to the common schedule of FIFA and AFC, but it is still limited.

However, the difficulty for tournament organizers is whether the clubs will release players to the national team if the domestic tournament is not stopped. Specifically, whether they will release players to the Vietnam U23 team preparing to compete in the U23 Asian tournament.

Coach Vu Tien Thanh just made a statement that caused a stir in the V-League (Photo: LPBank HAGL).

In reality, in countries around the world, how do they adjust their domestic league systems, sir?

- In other football countries, they only stop domestic tournaments when there is a FIFA Day (international tournament schedule focused globally, periodically arranged by FIFA). Other football countries do not stop national championships for youth teams to concentrate. Even FIFA Days are not stopped for too long, up to a month each time.

The suspension of the tournament for a whole month is really difficult for the clubs, greatly affecting their expertise and finances. No matter what, the clubs are still the ones paying the players' salaries.

I admit that being a coach in the V-League is a very difficult job, because when the tournament is on a month-long break, it is impossible not to let the players relax, even go home. They have to prepare their physical strength from the beginning after the players gather again.

After that, the players only played 2 matches, did not have time to warm up, did not have time to evaluate the players' performance, and had to rest again.

Expert Doan Minh Xuong commented that being a coach in V-League is a very difficult job, because the match schedule has many special features (Photo: Manh Quan)

So is there any solution to the conflict between the club and the national team, surrounding the V-League schedule, sir?

- The best solution is for VFF, VPF and the clubs to sit down together to agree on a common match schedule. They even discuss which international tournaments should be suspended and which should not.

Recently we have been talking about the common goal of developing Vietnamese football. Unifying the domestic competition schedule and perfecting the domestic tournament system cannot be separated from the role of the clubs, and we cannot ignore the clubs.

Finding a common voice between VFF, VPF and clubs is also a solution to help develop domestic football. Of course, experts also understand the importance of national teams when participating in continental tournaments and good results are the goal to aim for.

In fact, there have been many disputes over this issue in the past because we have not had a unified solution, each year there is a different break.

Both sides should sit down together, each side suffering a little to find a common solution. If these complaints are not resolved well, if they are allowed to simmer, they can lead to major conflicts.

Thanks for the conversation!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/chuyen-gia-hien-ke-giai-quyet-xung-dot-giua-v-league-va-doi-tuyen-quoc-gia-20240405145356313.htm