1. It must be frankly admitted that regional football has been changing rapidly in terms of expertise after a series of races, increasing strength with naturalized players.

When direct competitors continuously increase their strength with players trained in Europe, Vietnamese football relying only on "homegrown" resources is no different than accepting to be left behind.

In fact, after two defeats against Indonesia (2026 World Cup qualifiers) and Malaysia (first leg of 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers), the Vietnamese team fully understands that having only Xuan Son, Cao Quang Vinh or Nguyen Filip is not enough to compete fairly or above the odds as before.

Mr. Kim Sang Sik's moves to recommend and request VFF to promote naturalization for overseas Vietnamese players or players without origin are certainly not outside the goal of improving the quality of the Vietnamese team.

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Vietnam team is losing its thirst. Photo: Huu Ha

2. Looking deeper into the national team, the thirst for naturalized players also comes from a more difficult problem: motivation to compete. Most of the current pillars of the "golden generation" have had enough titles, and the economy has led to a significant decrease in motivation to compete.

Not to mention that the fact that they are always given an official position due to the lack of a strong enough competitor makes the inertia in the Vietnam team even greater. What has just been shown in the recent training sessions or the match with Nepal is the clearest proof.

And when the new generation of players promoted from U23 Vietnam have few opportunities to show themselves and their abilities are not enough to shoulder the task, the solution to choose and use naturalized players is more urgent.

3. Naturalization is certainly not a long-term and sustainable solution for football. The root still lies in youth training and building a scientific , systematic and long-term development roadmap.

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Supplementation from naturalized players is necessary

However, in the current context of Vietnamese football, this seems to be a necessary "medicine" as it can immediately compensate for the quality gaps. More importantly, the appearance of naturalized players will create a "revolution" in competition for the red team.

The appearance of new recruits with the desire to prove themselves will be an invisible pressure, forcing the old players to go beyond their comfort zone, to devote themselves completely if they do not want to be eliminated. This competitive pressure is the key factor to awaken the dormant aspiration in the Vietnam team.

It is not a permanent solution, but in the transition period and waiting for the younger generation to mature, naturalization is certainly the optimal solution to maintain competitiveness and rekindle the fire of desire in the Vietnamese team, which has been relatively low in recent years.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tuyen-viet-nam-vi-sao-ong-kim-sang-sik-khat-khao-cau-thu-nhap-tich-2453570.html