Five foreigners are in the running to coach the national men’s football team: two Germans, a Colombian, a Croat and a Serb. Conspicuous by his absence from the list is Mr. Henrique Calisto of Portugal, until now the favourite for the coveted position.
Some fans suspect that the VFF decided to eliminate Calisto from the short list because the Portuguese coach had not kowtowed to the federation’s every whim in the past.
Viet Nam Football Federation chairman Nguyen Trong Hy said his first choice would be a German since Viet Nam’s footballers could learn a lot about attitude and discipline from the German approach to the game.
And what Mr Hy says it usually what goes, according to a recent report, even if other members of the VFF have different ideas. In nearly every instance, they vote along with the VFF chairman despite their misgivings.
A poster in an online forum the other day said Viet Nam needed a smart leader in the VFF, someone who understood and placed the common welfare above his personal interests.
The favourite to get the job now that Calisto is no longer in contention is the 64-year-old German Burkhard Ziese.
The others are Francisco Maturana Garcia, 59, of Colombia, Branko Ivanovic, 54, of Croatia, Dragoslav Stepanovic, 60, of Serbia and Edmund Stoehr, 52, of Germany.
