Thailand's former British coach is top candidate for Vietnam's soccer team
HANOI - The former coach of Thailand is the leading candidate to head Vietnam's team, an official with the Vietnam Football Federation said Thursday.
Former England striker Peter Withe, who coached the Thai team for five years, heads a list of more than 10 foreign applicants for the coaching position, said Doan Thanh Lam, administrative head of the federation. Withe, who played with English club Aston Villa, was fired from Thailand's top job last September after the national team was eliminated from the Olympic soccer qualifying series. He was replaced by Carlos Roberto Carvalho of Brazil.
Thursday's Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper reported that the VFF is offering Withe a two-year contract with a monthly salary of $15,000 US.
"We are still working on the terms of the contract," said Lam. "If things work out, we hope to sign the contract next week."
Two weeks ago, Withe had been expected to sign a four-year contract to manage Indonesia's national soccer teams but had delayed signing it. He was reportedly offered $12,000 US a month for that contract, the newspaper reported.
The new coach would lead the Vietnamese team for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers and the 2004 Tiger Cup, he said.
Vietnam has had a string of foreign coaches since 1995. Its previous coach, Austrian Alfred Riedl, led the team to a silver medal in the Southeast Asian Games soccer final in December. Riedl left to coach the Palestinian national team in January.
The Associated Press - February 12, 2004.
|