At a press conference on the afternoon of January 26, Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi - General Secretary of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said that he would ask the VFF Referee Board to support the Vietnam team, helping players equip themselves with how to deal with VAR on the field.

" In the upcoming training session, VFF and Mr. Troussier will coordinate and be determined to compete well in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, against the two most important opponents, Indonesia and Iraq ," Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi shared.

" To do that, Mr. Troussier needs the support of the referee board. He smiled and asked me why he needed the support of the referee board, then I explained that currently our players do not understand how to behave with VAR in a match. Players need to know how to behave well on the field to avoid the recent mistakes that caused us to receive unfortunate red cards ."

At the 2023 Asian Cup, the Vietnamese team suffered many disadvantages in terms of how players reacted to events on the field. First of all, there were elementary fouls that led to red cards. Among them, Khuat Van Khang's indirect red card in the match against Iraq made fans feel regretful. Viettel's player jumped up to fight but raised his knee too high and the referee immediately blew the whistle.

Previously, public opinion also criticized Nguyen Thanh Binh's foul that led to a penalty in the match against Indonesia.

In addition, Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi gave another example of Khuat Van Khang's offside situation in the match against Iraq. The Vietnamese team would have had an early opening goal if the referee had not penalized the Vietnamese player for offside before the Iraqi defender scored an own goal.

" With many years of experience as a match supervisor, I find it difficult to catch offside in that situation. The main referee did not even notice it. However, VAR caught offside. If Khang stood still, there is a high chance that the referee would not catch offside, but our player was afraid of being offside so he ran up. VAR thinks that Khang covered the opponent's eyes, affecting their vision, so he made a mistake, " said Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi.

" VAR has semi-automatic offside detection technology, showing the offside line and Khang's heel was under the Iraqi defense. Only now do Vietnamese players know that to adjust their playing style. As for obvious mistakes that don't require VAR, we have to learn from experience ."

Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi emphasized that the Vietnam Football Federation will support and accompany Coach Troussier even though the team has not achieved good results recently. He hopes that the public and the media will be patient so that the French coach can work.

Van Hai