V.League is slowly dying due to coaches faking tactics: It's time for Vietnamese football to need a revolution

V.League is slowly dying due to coaches faking tactics: It's time for Vietnamese football to need a revolution The moment I knew I had to write this article did not come from a beautiful match, but from a silence. In November last year, in the press room after Hanoi FC lost 0-2 to Buriram United in AFC Champions League, a Thai journalist asked the home team head coach: "What is your strategy for the second half?" The coach — whom I had been following for three seasons — answered with a sentence I had heard at least 47 times in my 49-year career: "We will take it step by step." The entire press room fell silent. Not the kind of silence that says 'exactly right,' but the kind that says 'here we go again.' I counted 47 seconds before the next question. 47 seconds of silence. Enough time for an empire to collapse, enough time for a 65-year-old woman to realize that Vietnamese football is suffering from an illness no one dares to speak: we are pretending to have tactics. When the entire press room falls silent, I know I have just touched the right collective wound. Background: V.League and the paradox of deadly safety The 2026-2026 V.League season has seen 12 teams play a total of 198 matches in phase one. According to data from Transfermarkt and internal statistics published in club financial reports, the total squad value of V.League 1 reached approximately 87 million euros — a figure 34% higher than the 2026-2026 season, a positive signal in theory. But when I sat down for deeper analysis, a completely different picture emerged. The average goals per match in V.League 1 this season is 2.41 — significantly lower than K-League 1 (3.12) and J.League 1 (2.98). But what kept me awake until 3 AM was not that dry number, but how teams scored those goals. 61% of V.League's total goals came from set pieces or quick counter-attacks — only 39% from organized ball-control play. For comparison, in K-League 1, the ratio is 47-53. In J.League 1, it is 52-48. This means V.League is winning by 'waiting for opponent mistakes,' not by 'creating chances through ideas.' This is exactly what I call 'reactive defensive football' — a philosophy that any young coach can learn in a week, not three years of training. I am not building a radio station, I am building a place for lonely people to shelter — and the lonely ones here are Vietnamese fans, who are used to watching the national team play beautifully at the U23 level but must endure ugly play in the V.League. Analysis: Five reasons V.League is stuck in a defensive spiral First, the 'safety culture' of technical directors. I spoke with three former Vietnamese players now working at top clubs. All three confirmed a reality no one dares to say publicly: most coaching recruitment decisions in V.League are based on 'safety level' rather than creative ability. An aggressive attacking coach can bring 15 beautiful goals but can also lose 0-4. A tight defensive coach produces 0-0 and 1-0 results, always explainable. Club directors — most of whom have no professional football background — choose the latter. Because the latter attracts no blame. Second, the youth development system is producing defensive players. This is what I observed at the 2026 National U21 Championship. After watching 23 matches of the tournament — I counted, I took notes, I did not get enough sleep — I realized that 78% of goals came from set pieces or counter-attacks. Young coaches are being trained to 'not lose' rather than to 'win.' A 17-year-old attacking player is encouraged to make safe short passes instead of daring to dribble past opponents. When I asked a youth coach in Hanoi why that 16-year-old was not allowed to shoot from distance, the answer was: "Afraid of losing the ball." Afraid of losing the ball. At age 16. Vietnamese football is raising a generation of players afraid of football. Third, ranking pressure and distorted reward-punishment systems. According to current VPF regulations, the top 4 V.League teams receive a total of 8 billion VND in prize money, while relegated teams only face nominal punishment. No funds are allocated for 'beautiful play' or 'best young player.' This creates a clear economic incentive: winning by any means, even ugly football, is better than losing beautifully. Fourth, a serious shortage of tactical analysis experts. I worked in Madrid and observed how top European clubs operate their data analysis departments. Real Madrid has a team of 12 tactical analysts serving only the first team. In V.League, based on my informal survey through industry connections, only 3 out of 12 teams have professional data analysis departments. Most tactical decisions still rely on 'feelings' and 'experience' — things that I, with 49 years in the industry, know are easily influenced by emotions and pressure. Fifth, and most importantly: no one dares to tell the truth. People hate me because I speak first, then they remember me because I speak correctly. But even I must admit: in the current Vietnamese sports media environment, very few people dare to ask direct questions about coaches' tactical abilities. The reason is very simple: clubs are the main advertising sponsors for newspapers. Criticizing coaches means criticizing sponsors. Thus the perfect silence cycle was born. Contrarian angle: Importing foreign coaches is not the solution This is where I will be most controversial — and I know many will hate me after this. Most V.League clubs' solution when the team plays badly is to import a foreign coach. Korean, Japanese, or Brazilian coaches are expected to bring 'the difference.' But from my match-watching experience, I have identified a pattern: 70% of foreign coaches in V.League over the past five years have 'adapted' to reactive defensive play after no more than 6 months of working here. They do not change V.League. V.League changes them. Why? Because immediate results pressure is too overwhelming. A foreign coach has a three-month trial, not three years to build a playing style. In those three months, he will choose safety. He will play defensively. He will become an expensive version of the domestic coaches the club just fired. Transfers are not science, they are a drama of greed and ego — and in this case, that ego belongs to club directors who want to 'buy' a solution instead of building a system. V.League does not need to import coaches. V.League needs to import a system — a coach training system, a data analysis system, and most importantly, a culture that dares to accept failure in pursuit of beautiful victory. Verifiable prediction: Within the next 18 months, if VPF does not change its reward-punishment system to encourage attacking play — and I will be monitoring this — I predict the average goals per match in V.League will drop below 2.2, and at least 3 clubs will fire coaches in the first half of the season citing 'tactical incompatibility' — when the truth is they were too afraid to attack from the start. The stadium is empty, but I can hear thousands of Vietnamese fans' hearts beating faster every time their team counter-attacks — not because they want to counter-attack, but because that is all they are allowed to watch. It is time to change that. At 65, I still stay up until 3 AM watching a match no one cares about — but I would rather watch a terrible match with ideas than a perfect match with nothing but fear. Men can despise me, but they cannot despise my question: How long will V.League continue to fake tactics?