Monday, December 26, 2011

No reward for failure

Sacked Vietnam coach Falko Goetz ponders his future
Have Vietnam got their priorities right? They have sacked their German national team coach Falko Goetz, just seven months into his tenure, for an abysmal performance in the recent SEA Games. They finished 4th and for the Vietnam football federation, that was clearly unacceptable. Talking to the press, they pointed out the German coach had introduced an unsuitable playing style while failing to use the right players and create stability within the team. Vietnam's U-23s picked up 4th spot after a humiliating 4-1 loss to Myanmar in the bronze medal play-off, and after losing 2-0 to Indonesia in the semi-final. Goetz was the eighth foreign coach of Vietnam since 1995. He had already offered suggestions to restrict the number of foreign players at clubs in order to give more opportunities to locals and additional team places for younger players, before the curtain came down on his stint in charge. It seems the Vietnam federation won't tolerate failure, which is the complete opposite of their Cambodian counterparts, who perversely reward failure. Cambodia returned from the SEA Games with a sorry record, played 4, lost 4. Yet the Cambodian federation had already increased the contract of the South Korean coach (Lee Tae-Hoon) after 14 months of uninspiring and insipid football, where the team had failed in every competition they had entered. Now Lee is testing a batch of young players ahead of an unofficial regional U-21 tournament in Brunei at the end of February, with a view to preparing for Cambodia's next big senior competition, the AFF Suzuki Cup in October. This will be Cambodia's major international focus for 2012 and they will enter the qualifying rounds in Myanmar, which will determine who will join the big boys in the group stages, to be played in Malaysia and Thailand the following month. Cambodia failed to qualify for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup to be held in Nepal in March.

An Asean Super Football League is back on the agenda, after Asean Sports Ministers recently agreed on a Malaysian proposal to form such a league competition. The Super League would feature the leading football teams from all Asean countries. The proposal will be discussed in greater depth by the chief executive officers of all the leagues involved in the middle of next month in Kuala Lumpur.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's fair. If you are not qualified, out!

I think Lee should out. You are not qualified!

Anonymous said...

Money and relationship with S Korea are the reasons for Lee to stay. They should separate people from problem. Without an clear explanation re Lee's performance, we continue to criticize him and FFC. Dont blame the public, blame yourself. FFC fails to give enough information to the public, ignoring public opinion. No hope at all about U21 in Brunei.

Anonymous said...

Funny following SEA football from afar (North America) I had dreamed about the idea of having a team from each SEA member country play in a league, and someone has actually thought of the same concept. Fantastic! Looking forward to hearing (can't see on North American TV) how Cambodia's most decorated club (Crown) fare with the best in the region.

Andy Brouwer said...

Anon 9:12AM.
Of course, the fact that the Korean FA pay his salary is the reason why he's still in the job. Anyone else would've been shafted long ago.
We don't need a clear explanation of Lee's performance as we can see it for ourselves. Results are very poor but so is the style of play, the ineffectiveness of his selections and his inexperience as a coach is glaringly obvious.
The FFC wouldn't know a good coach if they bumped into one, so there's no point in expecting any sensible explanation from them either.
Andy