Patiently waiting for Mr. Troussier's 'cup of coffee'

After a victory that received more criticism than praise against Hong Kong, the Vietnamese team is preparing to face Syria on June 20. It will be a friendly match, but if coach Philippe Troussier and his team do not win, the pressure will increase.

The pressure is understandable, because when Mr. Troussier took over the coaching position, the Vietnamese team had begun to decline in terms of performance and playing style, but the demands of fans remained the same.

Success and failure under his predecessor Park Hang-seo have clearly defined the boundaries of Vietnamese football, which is reaching the third qualifying round of the World Cup, the final or semi-finals of the AFF Cup. Compared to 5 years ago, the Vietnamese team has come a long way, but to reach the World Cup, the players have an even longer journey ahead.

The Vietnam team is taking its first steps with Mr. Troussier.

To cross the aforementioned boundary, Vietnamese football has chosen a coach with a progressive football philosophy. Changing the philosophy, of which tactics are only a small part, is a necessary condition for breaking through. Coach Troussier "directed" the Vietnamese team to a ball control style of play, developing the ball sequentially from the defense, exploiting space with passes,... which is contrary to the pragmatic counter-attacking style of play, emphasizing safety, mainly taking advantage of transitions when the opponent loses the ball that Coach Park Hang-seo built.

Each tactic or style of play has its own advantages and disadvantages, the important thing is the purpose of use and the persistence for that style of play. Coach Troussier clearly stated that to compete fairly with the top teams in Asia (a step that must be taken if one wants to attend the World Cup), it is necessary to control the match with a more methodical and technical playing style.

This style of play requires more time to build up than defensive counter-attacking - which is a popular choice for small and medium-sized teams. To play in control, teams must spend a lot of time honing their players' technical and tactical skills, practicing hard to find harmony in the ball deployment, or coordination when coordinating attacks.

Coach Troussier

However, the opposite is that attacking play always has a higher risk of failure than defensive counter-attacking play if the players are underperforming. Because the way the team operates is very complicated, always having to push the formation high and pass the ball a lot, the risk of losing the ball and being punished is higher than when playing defensive counter-attacking.

The 90 minutes before the Hong Kong team was proof, when the Vietnamese team was constantly threatened with the goal, something that rarely happens under coach Park Hang-seo when the Vietnamese team meets the underdogs. In the upcoming match against the Syrian team, it is very likely that Cong Phuong and his teammates will continue to have to endure pressure from the opponent and public skepticism because of this style of play.

However, by choosing a ball control style of play, Coach Troussier accepted to step into a thorny path, challenging the core values ​​that Mr. Park had built to create a new team.

Getting out of your comfort zone is never easy, especially in football, where patience is not as great as it used to be. But football is like that all the time, like the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day", the French strategist and his players need time to lay the first bricks.

The Vietnamese team needs a long time to absorb the control style of play.

Coach Park Hang-seo’s meteoric success is not a common pattern in football. After years of rapid development, Vietnamese football needs to move to a stage of slow but steady progress, calmly observing the situation and accepting change, from which it can continue to break through. It cannot always just run and run.

The important thing is to trust the "cup of coffee" that Mr. Troussier is making for the Vietnamese team. The first drops may be bitter, but the real taste is only felt when the coffee drops gradually flow down the throat. The best things often do not awaken the taste buds immediately, but need time to "permeate".

To play with ball control smoothly, every strong team in Asia has gone through a long period of paying the price with failures, for example Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, or recently the host Qatar with billions of dollars invested, but lost all 3 matches at the 2022 World Cup. The difference between a strong team is that they dare to pay the price and stick to their chosen ideals, while other teams do not.

The Vietnamese team still has a very difficult road ahead. The only choice for Mr. Troussier and his students is to hold hands tightly and keep the faith.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-viet-nam-kien-nhan-cho-ly-ca-phe-cua-ong-troussier-185230618170649755.htm