Vietnam Team continuously creates historical milestones
The term of VFF term VIII has witnessed many historical successes of Vietnam Team in both regional and continental arenas. To have that success, the orientation, direction and close attention of the VFF play a key role.
React to the 10 years – destination
For a long time, Vietnam Team was constantly out of breath in many tournaments, even at the 2016 AFF Cup, Que Ngoc Hai and his teammates also lost in the semi-finals to Indonesia. After that, VFF had bold orientations and plans when deciding to invite Coach Park Hang Seo to lead the Vietnam team. Under Mr. Park’s guideline, the shape of the Vietnam national team appeared quite sharp with a combination of young talents and veterans. U23 players successfully competed in Changzhou (China) in early 2018 such as Quang Hai, Dinh Trong, Tien Dung, Van Hau, Van Duc … combined with seniors such as Ngoc Hai, Trong Hoang, Hung Dung, Anh Duc… has contributed to creating a team that is both young, talented and experienced. Through a close relationship with the Korean Football Federation, VFF negotiated and reached an agreement to bring Vietnam to Korea for a long training session to prepare for the most important tournament in 2018 – the AFF Cup.
That was the time when Vietnam Team not only trained with modern facilities, but also rubbed with quality “trial opponent”, thereby achieving a drop in performance at the 2018 AFF Cup. The tournament in which Vietnam Team emerged was a huge force, overwhelming the teams in the region. Throughout the group stage, Vietnam Team did not concede any goals and went straight to the championship in the admiration of the opponents. It was the championship that after exactly 10 years, Vietnam Team was able to re-establish, and at the same time cut off the thirst for the title that tens of millions of fans were waiting for.
Sublimation in the continent
Until the start of the 2019 Asian Cup, Vietnam Team was still considered a name that was not too formidable. Faced with that fact, VFF has planned to send Vietnam Team to go to a long training session in Qatar to get used to the climate in West Asia, as well as have some international friendly matches. Through the relationship of the VFF with the Qatar Football Federation, Vietnam Team has been arranged by the host country to have comfortably conditions, even to arrange a pitch to play a friendly match with the Philippines in the capital Doha.
And in the 2019 Asian Cup, Vietnam Team qualified to the knockout round and only lost in the quarterfinals to the team that then finished as the runner-up Japan. It would be remiss not to mention that Vietnam Team successfully competed in the period 2018-2022, when Park Hang Seo’s team reached the final qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup for the first time in history. The second qualifying round was about to end when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, paralyzing all football activities. But VFF was very sensitive, applying the “bubble process” to Vietnam Team, thereby helping the team ensure the competition and finish the second qualifying round with second place in Group G. In the final qualifying round, when the pandemic was not over, the Vietnamese team was arranged and meticulously planned by VFF so that training would not be interrupted. In the matches in the final qualifying round, Vietnam Team did not lose much force because of Covid-19 and this helps the players to have valuable experience against the giants of continental football like Australia, Japan or Saudi Arabia.
Vietnam Team under the reign of head coach Park Hang Seo has delighted the fans when continuously reaping success during the VFF term VIII. This is the foundation to open opportunities and affirm the position of Vietnamese football in the international arena.
