To help Vietnamese women's football reach new heights

Without real ability, it is difficult to fly high.

The 2023 World Cup is like a dream come true. But it would be a big mistake to base on that to assume that Vietnamese women's football is really among the top teams in Asia to be able to continue to win tickets to the next World Cup. The score gap when the team faces opponents at the World Cup may not be as big as feared. The result of losing to Japan 0-7 at the 19th ASIAD also seems to have not properly assessed the strength of the Vietnamese team when some key players are absent... But for those who understand football, the difference in level between the Vietnamese team and the continental and world level is very large, very clear.

To continue to have a ticket to the World Cup, Vietnamese women's football (right) needs to have synchronous investment.

Also participating in the World Cup for the first time, but the team from the same Southeast Asian region, the Philippines, was the team that made an impression when it had a historic victory over the host team, New Zealand. With the policy of naturalization and calling for "African expatriates" from all over the world to return (especially players playing in the US), the Philippines has become a team with many European features with players of outstanding physique and physical strength. If they continue to maintain this pace of progress, for a while longer, I'm afraid that Vietnamese women's football will have a hard time defeating them in the Southeast Asian arena.

Vietnam women's team

We do not (or have not yet) have a policy of borrowing "external resources" like the Philippines, so we can only rely on our own foundation. But what is the "internal strength" of Vietnamese women's football? The national championship (VĐQG) has only maintained 6-8 teams for many years, and in only 1 rank (no pressure to promote/relegate). In fact, there have been names like Quang Ngai, Long An, Hai Phong, Can Tho or Lam Dong participating in the national tournament, but only for 1-2 seasons and then just like that... disappeared when the provincial leaders or the local sports sector realized that it was difficult to compete for achievements.

Even the teams that have competed in the National Championship for many years have encountered many difficulties to survive (including the teams Hanoi 2 or Ho Chi Minh City 2, if not for the efforts of the local sports sector, they would have been eliminated long ago). The Son La team even had to ask not to participate in the tournament because of a lack of players when many ethnic minority players reached the age of... getting married... The treatment and salary policies for players are also still low. Only in the national team, in recent years of good results, have some top players been able to make a living from their profession.

COMPREHENSIVE CHANGE IS NEEDED

To encourage investment from the budget for women's football in localities, strong participation from the central level to provinces and cities is needed. At the same time, policies are needed to attract social resources, such as preferential mechanisms for businesses sponsoring women's football. Of course, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) should also have meetings with provinces and cities so that they can understand and accompany, avoiding the idea of ​​only investing if there are high achievements in a short time... Only then can we create a long-term, fundamental foundation.

Vietnamese women's football players (red shirts) need more investment

Many people say that the national youth tournament system is still limited and the competition conditions are not many. But if localities do not invest in building youth teams, how can they organize tournaments? With the participation of the Government as well as the response of localities, the participation of businesses and the club system, there should be measures to develop women's football in schools, thereby expanding both the target of talent selection and the target of beneficiaries.

We could not help but feel sad when attending the announcement ceremony of the main sponsor of the 2023 National Women's Football Championship, after 12 seasons, it was still Thai Son Bac. Only after asking carefully did we realize that although the Vietnamese women's team has made such a big splash in recent times, there are still only a few sponsors interested (and mainly for the team), the rest is still indifference from partners, even for the National Championship.

The national women's football team may find a new coach capable of replacing coach Mai Duc Chung. But to have a new generation of players capable of improving the team's quality in the long term, or to do anything to improve the level of the entire national women's football, is a very different story. We cannot rely on the VFF alone, but need a synchronous and comprehensive change, from the Central to the localities.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/de-bong-da-nu-viet-nam-vuon-len-tam-cao-moi-185231105215941496.htm