40 in race for Vietnam football's hot seat
HANOI - Nearly 40 foreign coaches have applied to train
Vietnam's national football team even though the state
federation has gone through no less than five
incumbents in as many years, football bosses said on
Tuesday.
The vacant position has attracted applicants from major
footballing nations including Argentina, England, France and
Germany, Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) General
Secretary Pham Ngoc Vien said.
The successful applicant will need to keep a tight lip on
criticism of Vien and other key officials of the VFF if he is to
remain in the job for long.
Like many of his predecessors, the last incumbent,
Brazilian-born Dutchman Edson "Dido" Silva, was sacked in
September after barely nine months in the job for openly
criticising the federation.
Since 1996, Vietnam have been through five foreign coaches.
Dido was preceded by Briton Colin Murphy, German Karl Heinz
Weigang, Brazilian Edson Araujo and Alfred Riedl of Austria.
All have complained that the VFF posed an insuperable
obstacle to their efforts to promote the game in a football-mad
country where interest still far outstrips ability.
Rare victories by the national team can draw hundreds of
thousands onto the streets of the big cities, but in this year's
Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia, Vietnam failed even to
make the final stages.
Agence France Presse - November 7, 2001.
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