World Cup aspirations of the Vietnamese team

What makes me strangely wistful is that Iceland, with a population of just over 300,000 people, won a ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Even though they did not make it past the group stage, that miraculous journey still left many people thinking, if they can do it, when will it be our turn?

Of course, there is no connection between a populous country becoming a football powerhouse. For a country with over a billion people like China, where every World Cup qualifier is a struggle, their presence in the 2002 World Cup finals (and being eliminated in the group stage) will probably forever be a beautiful memory in the hearts of their fans.

Or like the US, a superpower in many aspects, has never reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. But that does not mean they do not try their best. As for us, Vietnam, ranked among the 20 most populous countries on the planet and probably in the top 5 in terms of passionate love for football - has always had a burning desire for a dream called the World Cup.

Six years ago, when U23 Vietnam Making a miracle in Changzhou, the celebration scene with tens of thousands of people braving the cold and lining the streets to welcome coach Park Hang Seo and his team back on a double-decker bus made a strong impression on international friends.

It can be seen how great the Vietnamese people's passion for football is when U23 Vietnam is a young team and lost in the final match but they were still welcomed and celebrated. Perhaps winning the Champions League, European Championship or World Cup can only be returned home in the arms of fans like that.

A Western reporter based in Vietnam told me that the atmosphere of celebration was no different from that of a country whose team had reached the World Cup finals. And then he asked the question: “When will Vietnam, a football-crazy country, make its first appearance in the World Cup?”

When dreams knock on the door

Many commentators, including myself, once thought that the success of the U23 team was the foundation for the process of building World Cup dreams. But answering the question of when Vietnam will be present in the World Cup finals is not easy.

In fact, the success of the Vietnamese team under coach Park Hang Seo in 5 years has created great optimism and confidence in making that dream come true.

When FIFA announced that the 2026 World Cup would increase the number of participating teams to 48, meaning more spots for Asia, excitement continued to fill the air, especially when the Vietnamese team entered the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup for the first time.

But it was also the furthest the team had gone in the history of World Cup qualifying. The Park Hang Seo era ended with a failure (losing the AFF Cup title to Thailand) that brought many people back to earth. In fact, Vietnamese football has not yet left the region.

The fact that his successor - captain Philippe Troussier - is struggling with the young players in hand is a clear message that we cannot go to the World Cup with illusions without taking good care of training young players and turning the V-League into an attractive, highly professional tournament that is worthy of emulation in the region.

And from a social perspective? I keep remembering what commentator Quang Huy said during a chat after a drink:“We will enter the World Cup when no one will drive the wrong way or run red lights.”

That is a very reasonable sentence, the general idea is that the country's development in many aspects, including a high level of education, is one of the important conditions for the development of sports in general and football in particular. That path is really long and thorny, showing that football is just one aspect of life that benefits if the country is really rich and civilized, the people are really strong and knowledgeable.

Beyond the region

The World Cup target we talked about, initially 2026, seems to be gradually moving further away as fans are no longer nostalgic and delusional about the strength of 5 outstanding years under Mr. Park, but become more realistic.

Perhaps, it is not 2030 or 2034 but even further that we can make our dream come true. A football country that is stronger than us in many aspects in the region like Thailand has not yet done this, so the road ahead for Vietnamese football is still very long. Except for a special possibility that the World Cup is held in Southeast Asia, with Vietnam as a host country!

Another possibility is that if the 2045 goal of Vietnam becoming a developed country is achieved, football will also follow that trend, the World Cup may be within reach in the tournaments of 2046 or 2050.

Thus, it will take at least 1-2 more generations for the World Cup dream to become a reality and we must continue to nurture that dream not only by shouting slogans, but also by taking action.

Iceland is present at the World Cup because they have a high level of expertise in a continent with the most developed football tradition and quality in the world. Vietnam will also be present at the World Cup if the country develops and the level of football is raised to the level of Asia's top football, that is, surpassing Southeast Asia to be able to compete with Korea and Japan.

Just thinking about how to reach their level is already too difficult. However, the journey they have been striving for many years to make football go hand in hand with the development of the country is a great lesson for us to follow and take inspiration from.

“When are we going to the World Cup?”It is not a correct question but how to go beyond Southeast Asia, from there to the ocean is the question worth answering for the World Cup aspiration.