Recently revealing that he wanted to give 100 per cent of his attention to Vietnam’s senior national team, Park Hang-seo has had a change of heart.
According to reports, the Korea Republic national will now continue leading the line for the youth squad as well.
Earlier in the year, Park admitted that he wanted to concentrate on Vietnam’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, and that the youth teams preparing for the SEA Games would divide his attention. He would eventually have his assistant Lee Young-jin lead the young stars in their preparations.
Even the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) appeared to accept the suggestion to lighten the coach’s role, but all appears to be different now as Park will take on the senior team and the U-22 squad as well.
“Acknowledging the importance of both 2022 World Cup qualification and SEA Games 30 to Vietnam, Park has decided to take on the responsibility of leading both the national and U22 sides playing in these tournaments,” the VFF told sources.
Park’s agent Lee Dong-jun also weighed in on the new decision, saying: “We have talked a lot about Park’s work in 2019. He will be extremely busy having to coach both 2022 World Cup qualification and SEA Games 30 the same month. But he has accepted it because he knows Vietnamese fans take SEA Games very seriously and he doesn’t want to be seen as avoiding the responsibility.”
Park has a few new requests now, as he wishes to have more personnel help him on the matter. One name is Lee Tae-hoon who is the technical director of Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC.
It appears that VFF continue to support the coach’s vision as the representative also said: “VFF supports Park fully and will fulfill all of his requests.”
Vietnam have three main goals for international football, the AFC U-20 Championship qualifiers for 2020, the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the SEA Games.
Photo courtesy of TienPhong