Vietnam Football Federation has accepted the resignation of national football team head coach Phan Thanh Hung after the poor performance of the team at the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup.
Vietnam finished with just one point in Group A of the AFF Cup, failing to make it to the semifinals.
Vietnam was the 2008 champion and before the AFFP Cup, fans optimistically expected Vietnam to enter the final match. However, Vietnam was draw with Myanmar 1-1, then was beaten by Philippines 1-0 and was outplayed 3-1 by Thailand, to gain the team only two goals.
This is the first time they had missed out on the semifinals since their defeat in 2004.
In a meeting yesterday, the federation also admitted its mistake in assigning Hung to lead both the national team and V-League team Hanoi T&T.
The 52-year-old was appointed head coach of the national team in June. In friendly international matches in preparation for AFF Cup, Hung's team had played well but his main task was to put the national team into the Cup finals and the U23 team into the upcoming 27th Southeast Asian Games final.
When signing the contract with VFF, Coach Hung and Vietnam Football Federation leaders set out the target for the national team to reach the final of AFF Cup 2012 and the U-23 national team in the final SEA Games in 2013.
Hung explained the bad results of the national team, saying “There are many reasons for failure, but the expertise is the most dominant factor. Capacity, quality of players in each match failed to meet the requirements! Thus I decided to abandon the task of leading the national team. This is a straightforward decision, because I want Vietnamese football to play in a more positive way to serve the purpose of building the national team in the future.”
"As head coach, I take full responsibility," Hung said. "I send my apologies to the federation and fans nationwide. For the better future of the Vietnam team, I step down."
In a meeting with the training board and head of the Vietnam football delegation yesterday, federation members also took full responsibility for the failure of the team.
The federation will hold a meeting next Thursday to decide on whether to appoint a local or foreign coach for the national team, including the possibility that they may invite a football expert from Japan.
The team will convene early next month to prepare for the Asian Cup qualifying round.
Federation chairman Nguyen Trong Hy said the team would be led by a provisional coach and changes would be made to the team's structure, which may include promoting the best of the U22 players to join the best of the national team.
VFF also confirmed that one of the reasons that the national team played badly was because there were some players who had the ‘star disease’ and lacked the motivation to play in the AFF Cup.
VFF did not identify the players’ names, but said these players would not be called to play for the national team in the future.
