Vietnamese defender spreads psywar ahead of Indonesian national team opponent: Underestimates naturalized players because they don't join European countries

Regardless of Doan Van Hau's opinion, The Golden Star tactician Philippe Troussier secretly supports the naturalization program that is being intensified by the Indonesian National Team.

According to him, this strategy has proven to have a significant impact on boosting the quality of the national team as well as motivating the local players in the squad.

“I once coached in Africa. At that time, most of the players in Africa were only local players, like Vietnam now. As a result, the national teams in Africa did not have a very good performance,” said Troussier in a press conference at SUGBK, Wednesday (20/ 3/2024).

“Then we decided to identify potential players from outside (naturalized). After that, we could see Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, Ghana and other countries starting to naturalize many players of their descent. The results were clear. Morocco managed to reach the semifinals of the Cup World 2022.”

“For now, the strategy (naturalization) is also being implemented by Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. However, in Vietnam, we are not using the potential (of hereditary players). That's why we are starting to lose leadership (dominance) in Southeast Asia,” added the coach.