Coach Park calls up best V. League player to national team

The national team is set to train from December 6 to 28 in Hanoi.

The most notable face in this call-up, announced on Thursday, is Nguyen Van Quyet, who won "Best Player" award at V. League 1 2020 last week. This marks Quyet’s first return to the national team since AFF Cup 2018, when he was given the captaincy. After, he received no further call-ups despite his stellar performance for Hanoi FC in 2019. Quyet was absent in Asian Cup 2019 and all of Vietnam’s games in World Cup qualifiers the same year.

Park once said the reason he did not call 29-year-old Quyet to the national team was that his style did not suit the squad's strategy. However, Park also affirmed that the door to the national team remained opened to any player, especially while the coach adjusts tactics.

Aside from Quyet, veteran keeper Bui Tan Truong also returned to the national team. The 34-year-old goalie announced his retirement from football when the 2019 season ended but returned in mid-2020 to play for Hanoi FC as the club experienced a goalkeeper crisis. Truong played impressively and was even chosen as the main goalkeeper of the club. Hanoi subsequently decided to extend his contract for another year.

In this call-up there are four keepers, 15 defenders, 10 midfielders and eight strikers. In addition to familiar faces like Nguyen Cong Phuong and Nguyen Quang Hai, many new faces were called up due to their great form in the domestic league.

This long training period is important for the preparation of Vietnam’s main goals in 2021 like AFF Cup and World Cup qualifiers. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam would not be able to play a friendly with another national team. They will play two games with the U23 team instead.