The loss to South Korea was not a shock. It was a deserved loss, 메이저사이트but I was hoping for some resistance, which is why the Vietnamese are frustrated by the six-goal defeat.

Head coach Philippe Trousier’s side traveled to South Korea last week for a favorable learning experience. They lost 0-6 against Klinsmann’s Lake Kinsman in an A-match trial at Suwon World Cup Stadium. The Koreans were outplayed by Europeans such as Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Chung Woo-young (Stuttgart).

Vietnam was completely overwhelmed by Korea. Until last year, they had qualified for the World Cup in Asia and reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in the UAE. They thought they were the next big thing in Southeast Asia and wanted to compete with the top teams in Asia, but the gap between them and South Korea was huge.

Even Vietnam is not used to losing by six goals. According to Vietnamese media outlet Express, Vietnam suffered its third six-goal defeat in history. They thought they had improved, so they wanted to check their competitiveness against Korea, but they only got a sigh of relief.

In January this year, Vietnam ended a five-year partnership with coach Park Hang-seo. During his long tenure with the Vietnamese national team, from the A team to the U-23 team, Park has achieved great results. Starting with a runner-up finish at the U-23 Asian Cup in his first year, he raised expectations by winning the 2018 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Mitsubishi Cup and finishing fourth at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. Since then, the team has continued to show remarkable results every year, giving the country great confidence.

After the departure of Park Hang-seo, Trousier, who led Japan to the round of 16 at the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, took over. He vowed to take Vietnam to the next level, but the team lost to China (0-2), Uzbekistan (0-2) and South Korea in October alone. In three games, the team scored no goals and conceded 10.

There is no shortage of dissatisfaction. Vietnamese media outlet Nguoi Lao Dong said, “Vietnam’s loss to South Korea made me worry. The score of 0-6 is the biggest defeat in almost eight years,” and “doubts are focused on the player selection method and tactics implemented by Coach Tru Xie.”

The media said, “Coach Park Hang-seo played a counterattacking defensive style and competed equally with top Asian teams such as Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE,” adding, “Coach Trousier said he would change the way Vietnam possessed the ball and actively attacked. I thought the Vietnamese players had improved, but they were sluggish and their tactics were inefficient.”

“The public opinion now is that Vietnam has declined from the U-23 team to the A team compared to the time of Park Hang-seo,” he said. “The height and physical strength of the players selected by Coach Tru Xie are inferior to their seniors. They are not yet fit enough to compete in the third round of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America, let alone the Asian Cup next year.”

Meanwhile, Trousier said after the South Korea game, “We played a top-notch team and didn’t get the result. Korea is a good team. We are in the process of building a new team. We are preparing for the World Cup. We will not let today’s result affect us.”