The "European road" can't go through, and the Vietnamese team finds a Japanese and South Korean coach?
Reporter Han Bing reported that Trussier's resignation from class means that the "European path" chosen by the Vietnamese Football Association after Park Hengxu's dismissal last year has completely failed. At present, the Vietnam Football Association has fully started the process of selecting coaches, and Vietnamese media revealed that six well-known coaches have entered the list of candidates for the Vietnam Football Association. The Vietnam Football Association, which bets on "European coaches", has once again turned its attention to Korean and Japanese coaches who have had a huge impact on Vietnamese football. Among the candidates for coaches by the Vietnam Football Association are two South Korean coaches, one Japanese coach and one Spanish coach who has coached in the K-League.
Former Jeonbuk Hyundai coach Kim Sang-sik, former Lion City Mariners coach Kim Do-hoon, former Japan and Thailand coach Lang Nishino are the favorites, as well as Spanish coach L. Hernandez, who coached Daegu FC reserve team in the K-League. The other two candidates surprised fans, one is the former Thai coach Polkin, who was replaced by Japanese coach Masata Ishii, and the other is the former Italian coach Donadoni, who once coached the Shenzhen team.
Kim Sang-sik, who coached Jeonbuk Hyundai from 2021 to 2023, led the team to win the 2021 K1 League and the 2022 Korean FA Cup. And won the championship in the league and won the 2021 K1 League and the Korean Football Association Best Coach title. In the group stage of the 2000 Asian Cup, Kim Sang-sik also played against the national football team led by Milutinovic with the team. Kim Do-hoon is more famous than Kim Sang-sik, having coached Incheon United and Ulsan Hyundai and led the team to the 2020 AFC Champions League. He then coached Singapore's giants Lion City Mariners and led them to the 2021 league title. Vietnamese media revealed: Kim Sang-sik and Kim Do-hoon have submitted a self-recommendation letter to the Vietnam Football Association, showing enough sincerity to take the lead in coaching the Vietnamese team.
Former Thailand coach Polkin is difficult to really make the cut, because his statement is almost a joke: "I am willing to coach the Vietnamese team if invited by the Vietnam Football Association." To the excitement but confusion of Vietnamese fans, Donadoni, who had been at home for three and a half years, suddenly recommended himself to the Vietnam Football Association. After all, he had been coaching almost all the time in Italy, but he started leading the team in Shenzhen in the summer of 2019 and terminated his contract in August 2020. After that, he never got a chance to coach again. The Vietnam Football Association, which had just experienced the defeat of Troussier, could not take the risk of letting a famous European coach who knew nothing about Vietnamese football take over.
The Vietnamese media consider Kim Sang-sik and Kim Do-hoon to be very competitive, the former is the best coach in the K1 League, Kim Do-hoon is not only the AFC Champions League champion coach, but his resume in the Singapore League has given him a very good understanding of Southeast Asian football. And when he coached Incheon United, he was also the coach of the Vietnamese team's meritorious midfielder Liang Xuan Chang, and he is no stranger to Vietnamese football.
Although the Vietnam Football Association prioritizes South Korean coaches because of the "Park Hengxu effect", former Japan and Thailand coach Lang Nishino may become a dark horse. Hiroshi Nishino was the coach of the Japanese team at the 2018 World Cup, but his earliest fame came at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where he led the Japanese Olympic team to defeat Brazil in the first group game, and was dubbed the "Miami Miracle" by Japanese football. In the summer of 2019, Nishino concurrently served as the coach of the Thai Olympic and national teams, becoming the first Asian foreign coach in the history of the Thai team.
Like Kim Do-hoon, Nishino is also an AFC Champions League winning coach, leading Gamba Osaka to the 2008 championship and the AFC Coach of the Year that year. He won six trophies during his time in Japan, two years in charge of Thailand, and he played against Park Hengxu's Vietnam side twice in 2019. This time, the Vietnam Football Association just announced the selection of coaches, and Nishino Lang, who has been idle for nearly 3 years, immediately contacted the Vietnam Football Association. However, Nishino's annual salary in the Thai team is $1 million, and the annual salary of coaching the Vietnamese team this time is also the same standard. For the Vietnamese Football Association, which has just failed to hire Trussier with a high salary, there is a certain degree of difficulty.
However, the Vietnamese media claim that 60% of the members of the executive committee of the Vietnam Football Association support Lang Nishino, and the rest of the members prefer to continue to hire South Korean coaches. Nishino Lang has the upper hand in large part because of the successful exchange of Japanese coaches between Thailand and Singapore, and Rao Ang felt the most immediate shock in the Vietnamese football community. However, the "Korean effect" still has enough influence within the Vietnam Football Association. What's more, Coach Park Hengxu has not yet made it clear that he will return to the position of coach of the Vietnam team.
If Nishino runs the Vietnam team as he wishes, Southeast Asia will become a big stage for Japanese and South Korean coaches to compete against each other. The head coaches of the national teams of 10 Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste are South Korean coaches, and Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam are Japanese coaches.