The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said that it is seeking substitutes for Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto and the federation will give priority to foreign candidates.

“Calisto is an excellent coach and he has good knowledge of Vietnam’s football. He is very popular with the players and he is very good at encouraging their fighting spirit. I’m surprised with his resignation. You know about his contribution to Vietnam. I regret that he is leaving but the federation respects his decision,” said VFF Chair Nguyen Trong Hy.

Vietnam will compete in the qualifier round of the World Cup 2014 in June 2011. At the same time, the U23 squad will participate in the qualifier round of the Olympic London 2012. Seeking a substitute for Calisto has become an urgent task for VFF.

Hy said that VFF gives priority to foreign candidates. He also admitted that this is a difficult task.

VFF Secretary General Tran Quoc Tuan said he was not surprised with Calisto’s decision because VFF had prepared a plan for this circumstance.

“VFF always has a plan for any circumstance. Calisto is a good coach and it is unfortunate that he is leaving us. This is a loss for Vietnam’s football teams because our they are preparing for important events in 2011,” Tuan said.

He added that VFF would have to fix the coaching board for national teams by June.

Since 1991, the national football squad has employed 15 coaches, including four Vietnamese – Vu Van Tu (1991), Nguyen Sy Hien (1991), Tran Duy Long (1994-1995) and Tran Van Khanh (2004). None of them could help the team to win any remarkable achievements.

According to a local newspaper, VFF has eyed some candidates. The first is Simon Alexander McMenemy, 34, an English football manager and former coach of the Philippine national football team.

Unofficially, McMenemy became the youngest football coach in the world of an international team at the age of 33. Previously, he was the assistant coach of English non-League football team Worthing.

McMenemy took the Philippine national football team to the semi-finals of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, which took place from 1 December to 29 December 2010. It was the first time the country has ever achieved this feat. After an undefeated group campaign, one win and two draws, team Azkals qualified second in the group to face the Indonesia national football team in the semi-finals. The team was eventually defeated 1-0 in the home and away legs both held in Indonesia. The win of the Philippine team over the Vietnamese national football team during the group phase of the 2010 Suzuki Cup has been ranked as one of the "Top 10 soccer stories of 2010" by columnist Georgina Turner of American sports magazine Sports Illustrated. McMenemy left the Philippines in January 2011, after he was replaced by German manager Michael Weiß.

 

 The second nominee is David Booth, an English coach who led the Lao national team at AFF Cup 2010. He was also the coach of the Brunei national team in 1996-1999 and Myanmar in 2000-2003.

Booth also coached some clubs, including BEC Tero in Thailand, Mumbai FC, Valencia Club and Khanh Hoa (Vietnam). He is now the chief coach of Sisaket FC Club in Thailand.

The third nominee is also an English coach, Peter John Taylor, who trained the British U-21 team in 2004-2007 and worked for Hull City, Crystal Palace and Leicester City clubs.

 

The 58-year-old coach is now work for Bradford City club in the UK.

Related to Calisto’s resignation, the coach will have to pay compensation of $48,000, equivalent to two months of salary, to VFF to end his contract with VFF early.

The coach said about his decision: “I have no complaint about the compensation because it is noted clearly in the contract. I’m willing to pay two months of salary to become free. Why did I not resign immediately after the AFF Cup 2010, when criticism was aimed at me? I needed to consider what had happened. If I immediately resigned, it would mean that I admitted it was my mistake and failure. I was disappointed with the media. Let’s imagine if you have to read unconstructive articles about you every day. They blamed the failure of the national squad on my mistakes but it was not true. I’m leaving because I’m no longer interested in this job, not because of the money because if I want money, I can work in Dubai or China”.

“It is very difficult to say goodbye to Vietnamese football. But that’s life. You have many things to pity. I would like to thank the Vietnamese fans. They have supported me and gave me wonderful moments. I wish my successor to do his job well. I wish the Vietnamese national team and Vietnam’s football to develop and be more successful!” he said.

It is said that Calisto will join the Muang Thong Club in Thailand, which is owned by a Belgium man – Robert Procureur, and receive monthly pay of around $30,000. Muang Thong was set up in 2007 and won the Thai League 2009 championship.

(CPV)