Coach Troussier needs to push the Vietnamese team to overcome the threshold against Iraq

Rekindle the 'fire'

The Vietnamese team no longer has a chance to pass the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup after losing both of their first two matches, losing to Japan (2-4) and Indonesia (0-1). This is not a very heavy defeat because in fact, coach Philippe Troussier focuses on the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the 2024 AFC U-23 Championship finals.

In the second qualifying round, the Vietnamese team still controlled the situation with the second place. In the final round of the U.23 Asia, the Olympic goal is very difficult, but not impossible to aim for.

However, the losses at the 2023 Asian Cup speak to many of the lingering problems of the Vietnamese team. One of them is the fighting spirit.

Coach Troussier wants his students not to give up.

Under coach Troussier, the Vietnamese team played 11 matches (7 friendly matches, 2 World Cup qualifiers, 2 Asian Cup matches), with 4 wins and 7 losses. It is worth noting that since the French coach took over, the Vietnamese team has lost all 7 matches when the opponent was leading.

Those were defeats against China (0-2), Uzbekistan (0-2), South Korea (0-6), Iraq (0-1), Kyrgyzstan (1-2), Japan (2-4) and Indonesia (0-1).

In the 7 matches mentioned above, only in 2 matches against Kyrgyzstan and Japan, the Vietnamese team had a moment to find an equalizer (but then still lost in the end). In the remaining 5 matches, Coach Troussier's students lost everything.

According to Flashscore statistics, in 2 matches against Uzbekistan and Iraq, the Vietnamese team did not even create any scoring opportunities, even though their ball possession was not much worse.

The 0% win rate when the opponent is behind is a number that Coach Troussier needs to study further. Because it is related to all three core aspects of football: competitive spirit, tactics and the ability to cope with adversity.

What is the problem?

The first thing to assess in the recent series of unsuccessful matches is that the motivation of some players has decreased. This sign appeared in the final stage of Coach Park Hang-seo's tenure.

When taking over the coaching chair, Coach Troussier summoned about 80 players. In the first training session (March 2023), he called back the entire squad that participated in the AFF Cup 2022, because he believed that the players that Mr. Park had trusted before were the best factors of Vietnamese football at the time Mr. Troussier first arrived.

Many challenges still await Mr. Troussier.

After evaluating the players' abilities and motivation, Coach Troussier only retained 5 players who played in the 2019 Asian Cup for the 2023 Asian Cup campaign. Among them, Hung Dung, Quang Hai, and Van Toan all played 1 match and rested 1 match. Duy Manh and Tan Tai have not played a single minute.

The group of experienced players has declined even at their peak age, possibly due to a loss of form or conflicting tactical views. But let's look at the reality, 100% of Coach Troussier's players play in domestic tournaments. Staying in the safe zone for too long, refusing the opportunity to challenge themselves even when they have made a name for themselves under Coach Park, leads to players becoming stagnant and no longer able to maintain their development momentum.

"Transforming" this group of players to fit into a more dynamic tactical framework, requiring more physical strength and skills, is clearly a very difficult task for coach Troussier.

The exhaustion of many players has led to a decrease in comebacks. Under the French strategist, the Vietnamese team has only scored one goal after the 80th minute. That was Dinh Bac's goal against the Philippines. When the players are not compatible with the tactics, the results on the field are clear.

Coach Troussier spent a year working in Vietnam to understand football here in terms of culture, in addition to the expertise or level of each player. However, there is still a big gap between understanding and awakening.

The coach nicknamed "White Witch" needs more psychological therapy, first to stimulate his students' competitive spirit, then to convince the players to believe in the path he has chosen. Changing the way of thinking is a very long journey, and the first step must be to recreate the motivation to be ready to accept the new.

Belief combined with competitive spirit will motivate Mr. Troussier's students to surpass their limits. When players truly "burn" themselves to surpass their limits, the Vietnamese team will break through, regardless of the playing philosophy.

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