Ahead of travelling to Europe to scout overseas-based players for the Vietnam national team, head coach Park Hang-seo has spoken about the two main requirements in order to represent the Golden Dragons.
The South Korean coach is scheduled to embark on a trip to Europe this month to assess the likes of Alexander Dang (Norway) and Filip Nguyen (Czech Republic) while the likes of Jason Pendant Quang Vinh (France) and Kelvin Bui (Netherlands) have all expressed interest to play for the ASEAN champions.
And before setting out for the trip, Park spoke to Vietnamese newspaper Tien Phong regarding the objective of the trip.
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“I already have a plan. Besides the likes of Dang Van Lam, Adriano Schmidt (Hai PhongFC) and Martin Lot (PVF), there are four players playing overseas. About these players, I have discussed with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and we have a plan to evaluate their abilities,” Park told Tien Phong (via TheThao 247).
“However, for those who want to be summoned to the Vietnamese national team, they still have to comply with two requirements,” he said.
“First, we have to ensure they are eligible to play for us. If they don’t want to have Vietnamese nationality, there’s no reason for me to go. If they are willing to, I will go to see them play. No matter where they play, I will go to find out how they play because it is the need of Vietnamese football,” Park said.
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“Second, the most important thing is to find out whether they have enough ability to play for the national team. I will not pick these players just because they are playing in European leagues. I will first determine their capabilities before picking them,” said the 60-year-old who led Vietnam to the quarterfinals of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup earlier this year.
VFF have confirmed that Park will travel to Norway and Czech Republic to take a look at forward Alexander Dang who plays for Nest-Sotra and goalkeeper Filip Nguyen who plays for FC Slovan Liberec.