One of the important goals set by the 9th Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) is for the national team to win a ticket to the World Cup.
The specific goal is for the Vietnamese team to enter the final qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup as a foundation towards qualifying for the 2030 World Cup. That is why the VFF has placed great trust in Coach Troussier. After more than 1 year of being associated with Vietnamese football, Mr. Troussier wants to make a big revolution, with great ambition.
The 10-year roadmap for the World Cup dream is not long, but it is enough for the Vietnamese team to prepare the best generation of players within the allowed limits. Therefore, when taking on the new job, Mr. Troussier immediately changed the squad with a series of young players. However, due to both subjective and objective reasons, he was unable to build a team with a good transition between veterans and young players. The sudden and excessive changes in personnel over the past time have made the Vietnamese team unable to ensure both quality and experience.
In the first phase, the Vietnamese team won a few friendly matches against opponents of equal strength, but their performance was not very convincing. In the next phase, the Vietnamese team lost consecutively against stronger opponents.
At the 2023 Asian Cup, losing all the group stage matches, especially the loss to Indonesia, put coach Philippe Troussier under a lot of pressure. Under Mr. Troussier, the Vietnamese team has played 13 matches. We have 4 wins against Palestine (2-0), Syria (1-0), Hong Kong (1-0), Philippines (2-0).
Of these, only 1 win over the Philippines was in an official tournament - the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The 9 losses that the Vietnam team suffered included China (0-2), Uzbekistan (0-2), South Korea (0-6), Iraq (0-1, 2-3), Kyrgyzstan (1-2), Japan (2-4), Indonesia (0-1, 0-1). In fact, Mr. Troussier's students had moments when they did well what the French strategist wanted. Perhaps, the first half performance against Japan at the Asian Cup was the performance that could make domestic football fans feel most satisfied.
"The playing style is too boring and disjointed", "Didn't hit the target all match", "Never criticized the team, but really confused about the country's football", "Used to play better than Indonesia but now at a disadvantage", "Perhaps Indonesia wants Troussier to stay as long as possible"... are the reactions of most fans on social networking sites after the Vietnamese team lost to Indonesia in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup at Bung Karno Stadium.
Not only the defeat against Indonesia, the issue of personnel selection and ball control play to do what when the whole match Vietnam team did not have a single shot on target was raised? With Mr. Philippe Troussier, the French strategist's ball control philosophy is built on the foundation of passes. It must be admitted that this is the trend of world football.
It must also be admitted that Mr. Troussier is extremely passionate about his beliefs, right down to the smallest details on the training ground. Coach Philippe Troussier switched to a controlling style of play, requiring players to hold the ball more confidently, move more to put pressure, and find spaces to coordinate. Building a more modern style of play is right. However, the overall feeling is still the lack of perfection of the Vietnamese team at the moment. To play this way, Vietnamese football needs to prepare very carefully, even building a foundation for at least the next 5-10 years. Because to play the way Mr. Troussier wants, the players need to have a very good level of tactical thinking, basic techniques, and physical strength.
In fact, Mr. Troussier's requirements are quite high, requiring a long period of working and training together for the players to somewhat meet the requirements. Although it has been a year, the training sessions are only short-term, unable to help the players adapt and improve quickly.
That style of play, if it is to be mastered, must be practiced throughout domestic football tournaments. However, both in terms of youth training and "real combat" in the V.League, how many training centers are teaching players according to standard curriculum, how many clubs are playing proactively in the true sense, accepting to "take off" the old, worn-out defensive counterattacking style?
Former coach Park Hang Seo once exclaimed: "Vietnamese fans only like winning football" after criticism of this coach. This exclamation of Mr. Park is actually not wrong and is not limited to Vietnam. Fans everywhere have never expected or enjoyed their team's defeat. The last time Vietnamese fans knew the feeling of victory was on November 16, 2023. Since then, the Golden Star Warriors have suffered 6 consecutive defeats. The loss to Indonesia is considered the "last straw" that caused the audience to criticize Mr. Troussier. The pressure on Mr. Troussier was greater than ever right before he had to accept the second defeat under his reign against Indonesia. The French coach himself said before the match at Bung Karno Stadium:
"80% of Vietnamese people are waiting for the result tomorrow so that VFF can fire me. Many people are looking forward to the day I am replaced. Many people here are the same. Many people say that my way of working with the Vietnam team is not suitable. Some even say that I am destroying Vietnamese football.
I know what they say. The public can be influenced by that information. That's the situation that every coach in the world has to face. Maybe many people don't believe me, through the comments in the press and social networks."
This is not the first time the French strategist has made such a statement. Before leaving for the 2023 Asian Cup, he also made similar comments.
Obviously, with the above statements, the "white wizard" is under a lot of pressure after the poor results of the Vietnam team and the wave of criticism from fans over the past time. This is said to stem from the 68-year-old coach's use of personnel and tactics.
The French strategist prioritized young players and abandoned the stars who were at the peak of their careers. Along with that was the application of a ball-controlling style of play that was considered too much for the physical strength of the Golden Star warriors.
After the defeat against Indonesia, perhaps the 80% figure that Mr. Troussier mentioned has increased a lot and the fans' trust in him has almost run out. VFF had certain support and trust in Mr. Troussier until before the defeat against Indonesia.
In football, if you cannot do your job or complete your tasks, you will be fired. However, the compensation factor can also create certain concerns. However, we should also look at the reality that Mr. Troussier, despite his great ambition and efforts, has not yet met the expectations of his fans.
However, although disappointment and pressure to fire Mr. Troussier are higher than ever, suddenly changing the coaching position right after this defeat is not necessarily a wise decision.
The French coach had two chances to "get revenge" against Indonesia in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup but failed in the first match. The return match will be an important turning point for the Vietnamese team when they must have at least one victory to have any hope of passing the second qualifying round. If they only get 1 point, the risk of Vietnam being left behind by Indonesia is very high.
Coach Philippe Troussier and his team are under more pressure than ever to perform and they will have to win the second leg at My Dinh Stadium, in addition to regaining a position to qualify for the second qualifying round, but more importantly, to regain some of the fans' trust.
If Vietnam does not get 3 points against Indonesia at My Dinh Stadium, the chance of entering the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup for the Vietnamese team is almost gone. In the above hypothetical case, it is unlikely that the VFF will continue to be patient with Mr. Troussier.
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