Mr. Duc replaced Coach Park Hang-seo to lead the Vietnam team?

Vietnam Tel will have a friendly match with Afghanistan Tel at 19:00 pm on June 1 at Thong Nhat Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City. The list of 23 players summoned by Coach Park Hang-seo for this gathering has many points that surprise the fans.

The first shock, it can be said, is that the Korean strategist chose to remove the name of HAGL’s central midfield duo Xuan Truong and Tuan Anh. This is a decision that has rarely happened in recent years, despite the fact that Xuan Truong and Tuan Anh’s performance is unstable and somewhat inferior to their peers in the same position.

The second surprise came on the training bench. Specifically, Coach Park Hang-seo has added to his team, his beloved pupil Anh Duc, in the role of his assistant, next to Mr. Cedric Rogers. Of course, with the level of one of the best strikers in Vietnamese football history, Anh Duc will be expected by Mr. Park to accompany junior strikers.

Before that, there was also a time when Coach Park Hang-seo called Anh Duc back to the team even though he announced his retirement from international competition with Vietnam after the match against Thailand in November 2020. Accordingly, after much persuasion, Anh Duc also returned to the gathering of Vietnam Tel for the final matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, despite being 36 years old in May 2021.

However, this comeback of the former Becamex Binh Duong captain in the Vietnam national team shirt under coach Park Hang-seo carries a heavy role of learning experience instead of playing on the field.

Park’s decision to let Anh Duc take on the role of assistant coach in the national team certainly did not surprise many people, but the fact that the 37-year-old player is currently contributing to Long An Club in the First Division with 2 parallel role as assistant coach and player. And obviously, Coach Park Hang-seo is making long-term plans with the move to reunite Anh Duc in the national team.

Looking back at nearly 5 years of working with Vietnamese football, the number of local assistants assisting Mr. Park from U23 Vietnam to the national team is not small. However, until now, Coach Park Hang-seo had the opportunity to choose an assistant who was once his student like Anh Duc’s case.

So it is possible that the Korean captain is trying to train and foster the famous striker of Thu Luong football to become an heir to inherit the legacy after Mr. Park left the hot seat.

Anh Duc himself in the peak competition period was also very hard to learn and quickly obtained his AFC training A license to be ready to hold the steering wheel like his current job at Long An Club.

In the past, it was not uncommon for domestic coaches to act as assistants to foreign head coaches, and it was also a way for VFF to take advantage of, to give them the opportunity to learn and expand their knowledge. From there, it will be popularized and blown into domestic tournaments such as V.League to maintain the legacy left by foreign teachers, thereby contributing to raising the level of Vietnamese football.

A typical example is the case of coach Phan Thanh Hung and coach Nguyen Van Sy who worked as assistants to Henrique Calisto in the Vietnam team in the past. After a long time with the assistant teacher ‘To’, both Mr. Phan Thanh Hung and Mr. Nguyen Van Sy were influenced both professionally and in training style of the Portuguese military leader. Both coach Phan Thanh Hung and coach Nguyen Van Sy then contributed to changing the face of the V.League, gradually achieving success in their coaching careers and each had a period of being tested as a coach. Head of Vietnam National Team.

Returning to Anh Duc, of course, how this veteran striker trains still has to wait for an answer in the future, but choosing his beloved student as an assistant while still playing is a clear calculation of his. Park. In addition to prioritizing the use of familiar compatriots, notably former head coach of Quang Nam Vu Hong Viet, Coach Park Hang-seo is also trying to build for Vietnamese football a young and talented local coach force. Like using Anh Duc, using goalkeeping coach The Anh, for example.