Vietnam’s soccer team has recently changed coaches following a slump in form. Former coach Park Hang-seo, 65, may be the first name that comes to mind, but the team has been tight-lipped.

“Park Hang-seo laughed off questions about his return to the Vietnam national team,” Vietnamese media outlet VnExpress reported on Monday.

According to the media, Park had attended the departure ceremony of Vietnamese second division side Bac Ninh FC the day before. Park has agreed to advise the club this season in a senior advisory role. 안전카지노사이트 This is Park’s return to Vietnam after stepping down as head coach of the national team last year.

During the ceremony, Park was asked about the recent topic of Vietnam’s national team head coach. The position recently became vacant. The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) officially announced the termination of Philippe Trucier’s (69) contract on June 26th. “Coach Trucier apologized for not meeting the expectations of Vietnamese fans,” the VFF said. We recognize his high sense of responsibility and professionalism and wish him happiness.” “The federation is also sorry for not reaching the expectations of the fans,” the statement added.

Trousier, who took over the helm of the Vietnamese national team in February last year, was a successful coach in Japan in the 2000s, winning the Asian Cup (2002) and reaching the round of 16 at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea. However, he failed to produce the same results in Vietnam and was forced to step down after just over a year.

This raised the possibility of former coach Park Hang-seo’s return. However, Park, who was in attendance at the event, was eager to change the subject and laughed, saying, “Thank you,” when asked. “I don’t want to answer questions related to the national team,” he said.

The fact that Park is being talked about at all is an indication of the impact he has had on Vietnamese soccer. Park took charge of Vietnam’s national team and U-23 team in October 2017, and he remained in charge for nearly five years until he stepped down after the AFF Championship in January last year.

During that time, Vietnamese soccer made history. The team reached the quarterfinals of the Asian Games (2018), won the AFF Championship (2018), won the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games football title (2019 and 2021), and qualified for the World Cup final for the first time. When he took over, the team was ranked around 130th in the FIFA rankings, but in five years, the team improved to 96th. Unsurprisingly, Park has become a national hero in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s interest in Park’s departure is largely due to the team’s recent struggles in World Cup qualifying. On June 26, Vietnam lost 0-3 to Indonesia in the fourth match of Group F of the Asian qualifiers for the FIFA Confederations Cup North America 2026. It was their second straight loss after a 0-1 defeat in the third match and their ninth defeat in their last 10 A matches.

As a result, Vietnam now sit in third place in Group F with 1-3-3 (3 points). With the top two teams in each group advancing to the third round of qualifying, they likely don’t stand a chance. The North and Central American World Cup was promising as the number of Asian qualifiers increased from 4.5 to 8.5 due to the expansion of the field to 48 nations, but the team is in danger of not even qualifying for the final round.

Meanwhile, Park is currently not in the running for a head coaching job, although he is said to have received offers from Thailand, Indonesia, and China. He was also considered to be the interim head coach of the Korean national team after Jürgen Klinsmann was fired, but Olympic coach Hwang Sun-hong took over for two games.