The former chief coach of the national football squad, Alfred Riedl, suddenly agreed to become the assistant to current coach Henrique Calisto.

In a talk with the Sports and Culture Newspaper, Riedl said after leaving Cement Hai Phong, he received some invitations from clubs in Vietnam and other countries, but Vietnam has always been his top priority.

In a previous interview, when he was the chief coach of Cement Hai Phong, Riedl said that in the case that he has to choose between Vietnam and other countries, where he is paid higher than in Vietnam, he will still prefer Vietnam, because “in football, money is very important, but it is not everything.”

Compared to some nominees to the post of Calisto’s assistant like Tran Cong Minh, Nguyen Van Sy, Trieu Quang Ha, Le Huynh Duc, or Nguyen Huu Thang, Riedl fails to meet the “youthful” standard, but his advantage is the knowledge and experience of nearly ten years leading two national teams of Vietnam.

Moreover, it is very hard for the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to take the above Vietnamese young coaches out of their local teams to the national team.

After the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008, an assistant to Calisto asked to leave the national team because he was paid very high (VND 30 million – US $1,700) at his local club but this coach couldn’t help this team with anything for several months because he had to work for the national squad. He was very afraid and wanted to return to the local club.

Recently, two Vietnamese clubs planned to invite Riedl back to Vietnam to work for them. However, Riedl agreed to join the national squad.

VietNamNet/TT&VH