The two-year contract from 2011 with VFF was offered to Falko Goetz, but his resignation will be still demanded soon if he cannot help the Vietnam Olympic football team (VOFT) win in the 26th SEA Games.
F.Goetz has never received an unpleasant order from a VFF official but Henrique Calisto, the former coach of the Vietnam national football team, did.
When resigning in early March 2011, he was too depressed to hide his feeling, “I am very sad when being given such a statement like that from Le Hung Dung [the Vice president of VFF]”. H.Calisto was actually put into a hard situation, helping VOFT to get the gold medal in the 26th SEA Games or resigning at once.
During the negotiation, VFF set some “gold” target for F.Goetz. The German coach once refused the request due to the training time limit, but finally agreed when VFF did not change their mind. The two-year contract between VFF and F.Goetz is, therefore, all right till the end or can be cancelled in six months if VOFT loses in the gold medal hunting in Indonesia.
Vietnam football team now may be defeated in the continental or world competition, but cannot fail to win the gold medal in the Southeast Asian competitions. The desire for gold medal in the 26th SEA Games is multiplied, because of Vietnam’s victory in the Asian Football Championship (AFF Cup) once and expectation for the championship in more than half a century.
That’s why the dream about the gold medal is now the biggest one ever. This is the expectation that VFF puts in the contract for the first time.
F.Goetz’s job is not easy, but VFF themselves cannot give in because if they do not put forth “gold” target in the 26th SEA Games, it is not necessary for them to hire a foreign coach. The Da Nang coach Phan Thanh Hung is ready to lead the VOFT in the 26th SEA Games. When choosing Mr. Hung, the situation will be quite different and the resignation will not necessarily be demanded if the team cannot bring home the gold medal.
Is F.Goetz totally supported?
It is not easy for VFF to choose F.Goetz. Cooperating with former coach of Hertha Berlin club means ignoring H.Stoichkov and Gede, who are supported by many VFF’s members. There are actually lots of disagreements on choosing a candidate to support between VFF’s members.
Hiring F.Goetz is actually a definitive decision of Mr. Nguyen Trong Hy, the VFF’s President because there are many reverse impacts from Gede and H.Stoichkov’s supporters. The difficulty here is that Mr. Hy and his supporters just know Goetz through résumé, instead of the real cooperation with Vietnam football like that of Calisto when chosen in 2008.
The two-year contract is going to be signed and it is enough to assure the German coach that he can devote to Vietnam football. VFF’s leaders are also determined to compromise with F.Goetz on receiving 2-month salary as compensation if he is fired early. VFF’s carefulness is apparently essential, especially with F.Goetz, who had bad traces on contract compensation before. It also somehow proves that VFF only rely 80-90% on his success.
It is wonderful if F.Goetz succeed in the 26th SEA Games. If not, the trouble will start but does not come from the contract with the German coach, but from the disagreements of VFF’s members like the ones on choosing a new coach before.
