Ho Chi Minh City According to expert Doan Minh Xuong, Vietnam's defeat in the 2027 Asian U20 qualifiers is difficult to avoid because it could not gather the strongest force, the short preparation process and the change of coach.
- As a youth trainer, how do you view Vietnam's failure in the 2027 Asian U20 qualifiers?
- In the eyes of fans in Vietnam, football is about winning. As for professionals like us, at each level and time there will be different requirements and assessments. So I want to look at failure from a different perspective. For youth football, defeats are a lesson for "adults" to look back on training, preparation and future direction for home football. That is, there are failures that are not meaningless.
Specifically evaluating the recent tournament, where Vietnam lost all three matches and finished at the bottom of Group C, I think there are many different reasons. Objectively, we are in a heavy group with Iran and North Korea, two major football countries. North Korea may have little information, but they are always famous for their physical strength, speed and ability to compete. They currently own a team that has experience competing on the international playground, many of whom were members of the DPR Korea U17 team participating in the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup.
Regarding subjective reasons, we have too short preparation time. In the first training session, the team had about 15 days of practice. The second period is only 7 days. With such a period of time, it is very difficult for coaches to build a playing style.
Another important reason is that the team could not gather the strongest force because the clubs were in the process of preparing for the V-League and refused to release their troops. For example, SLNA - the U19 National Champion team - has 6 players called up. But Nguyen Bao Ngoc, Hoang Minh Hoi, and Nguyen Tan Minh were not recruited. Tran Quoc Hoa was present and suffered an injury. Ninh Binh striker Nguyen Le Phat also had to return to the club to play in the V-League.
With the above reasons, it is difficult to ask for a perfect U20 team that can reap achievements in the qualifying round.
- So what about coach Cristiano Roland not being able to lead the U20 team, even though he helped the U17 team win the Southeast Asian championship and win tickets to the World Cup at the U17 level, instead of Japanese coach Yutaka Ikeuchi?
- In my opinion, the Vietnam Football Federation is strategically orienting the development of this group of U20 players towards the 2034 World Cup. Therefore, assigning Coach Ikeuchi to train is to respond to the model of Japanese football. But this transfer seems hasty. Under Roland's hands, the players play a type of strategy. Coming to coach Ikeuchi, it's a different philosophy. Simply put, if you have not learned the new, the old will be lost.
Coach Ikeuchi does not have the strongest force and cannot even build a clear playing style. His team is neither a counter-attacking defense nor a ball control player...
For example, the 1-3 loss to Iran. At the end of the match, he sent tall midfielder Dinh Quang Kiet into the striker position. In general, "chaotic sword techniques", one person plays one style, there is no cohesion. Just like the match with North Korea. The team should have defended and counter-attacked, not been able to fight against a strong opponent, only to give up their best in the second half and be counter-attacked by the opponent. The same goes for the loss to Iran. Our players put on pressure, but in the second half they were at their best. After the match, I saw coach Ikeuchi say that "Vietnam had a good round". But football has two halves, you have to calculate the right tactics and people for every opponent to have the best results.
Like the Vietnamese team, coach Kim Sang-sik always prepares a vertical axis such as goalkeeper Le Giang - midfielder Thanh Chung - midfielder Thanh Long - striker Xuan Son. After that, he added surrounding players such as Xuan Manh, Hoang Duc, Quang Hai, Dinh Bac, Hoang Hen... so the team was strong enough. As for U20, coach Ikeuchi does not have such a vertical axis. So, in short, we can't blame the players, they are more pitiful.
- Not only did Vietnam fail in the qualifying round, but they were also relegated to U20 Asia. In your opinion, what consequences will happen?
- Vietnam Football Federation probably does not think about the prospect of relegation. If they thought about this issue, perhaps they would have worked with the clubs to bring the strongest squad, if they did not qualify, they would still finish third in the group to survive relegation.
Once relegated, it will take us four years to get promoted again. That is, by 2030. This will directly affect the young players of the U16 and U17 groups that Coach Roland builds and leads. Not being able to participate on the highest playing field will make it difficult for players to develop perfectly.
- There are many naturalized players as well as overseas Vietnamese playing and contributing to the achievements of the Vietnamese team recently. In your opinion, in addition to the naturalization policy, how should Vietnam focus on youth training?
- Of course, the trend of naturalizing and using overseas Vietnamese players is good, but youth training is the core of a football foundation. The problem here is that training children must be systematic throughout.
Like Japan, they have a philosophy and style of play. Systematicity is shown through the process of selecting and training young players. It follows a unified process. From the Japanese team, to U23, U20, U17... all play a short, small ball system... They just follow that system and choose the best players in that position and then assemble them to compete. Those are the most basic things that every Japanese player is equipped with. When joining the teams, just follow the 4-2-3-1 system to compete.
In Vietnam, youth football is done differently in each place. HAGL trains in this style, Viettel, PVF and Hanoi FC, SLNA... train in another style. Therefore, when gathering players for the team, we will have to do it again.
Overall, what is the problem here? That is, training children of course does not need to look at immediate achievements. But during the training process, you must orient and find the player model. For example, Dinh Quang Kiet is tall and plays a central defender, so he must be trained to become a good central defender for the Vietnamese team. It's not like there's a lack of people naturally being brought up to play center forward. Or a small striker who has to play off the wing and cannot be trained to play as a center forward...
In youth training, the Federation, clubs and coaches are very important. They must sit down and agree with each other. Just like when you paint a picture, first you have to sketch out the details, then consider how to paint, what color scheme... to become a perfect work. Football is the same. But the root cause is that the current youth training work in Vietnamese football is not systematic.
