Huynh Kesley Alves (L) and Dinh Hoang La are likely to be called to join the national team in the near future

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) says it will pull up its organizational socks in hosting one group of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010, and work to have the national team defend its 2008 title.

A VFF official said it is quite capable of fulfilling the task of organizing the regional football event, having successfully hosted a group of the Asian Cup 2007, and organized the AFF Cup 1998 and 2004 (which was the Tiger Cup then).

Organizing six games of the AFF 2010 qualifying matches will be no big deal for VFF.

VFF General Secretary Tran Quoc Tuan said the federation would soon finish planning arrangements for five matches in Hanoi and one match in HCMC as two final round matches in the group will take place at the same time.

Calisto to continue

The federation also announced that it plans to extend the contract with current head coach Henrique Calisto, who helped Vietnam earn its first AFF Cup championship last year.

This decision will not depend on the results of the U23 team at the 25th South East Asian Games in Laos later this year, it said.

The two-year contract VFF signed with Calisto in April last year would end in April 2010. If the U23 team can advance to the final match at the 25th SEA Games as the federation targets, it would be certain to keep the Portuguese tactician.

If the U23 boys play well but are not lucky enough to advance to the final match, VFF will choose Calisto as a “partner” for the AFF Cup 2010, one VFF official said.

VFF Vice Chairman Le Hung Dung said, “We know how valuable Calisto’s contributions have been to Vietnamese football. The VFF standing committee will soon sit together to talk with him about long term cooperation.

“However, we now want him to focus on the 25th SEA Games and Asian Cup qualifying round, so we don’t want to talk about this matter.”

Perhaps, VFF leaders of the current fifth term don’t want to talk about the contract with Calisto right now because of another reason. Their current term will end in September and the leaders of this term don’t want to make plans that they can’t finish and leave unfinished matters to the leaders of the next term, Dung surmised.

Calisto has not made commented about VFF’s announcement, saying he is focused on completing some important goals.

Two new Vietnamese nationals likely to join the national team

Speaking to Thanh Nien Wednesday, Calisto said he would call in some foreign players who have been granted Vietnamese citizenship.

“One of them will be Huynh Kesley,” he said.

He said he had chosen another but did not name him. The speculation is that it could be Dinh Hoang La, goalkeeper of the second-flight First Division club Ninh Binh.

“Foreign players with new Vietnamese citizenship are always welcome to the national team if they are in good form at their clubs,” Calisto said.

However, Huynh Kesley of the V-League club Binh Duong will not be called when the national team gets together on May 10 because Calisto will not call on any players of Binh Duong or Hanoi ACB teams who are playing at Asian Football Confederation Cup qualifying round.

Calisto said he would call 25 players to prepare for the friendly match with the Greek club Olympiakos on May 14.

Regarding custodian Duong Hong Son and Danh Ngoc, Calisto said the national teams department will discuss the issue with senior VFF officials.

Son was accused of provoking a player of another club, leading to an altercation involving two of his teammates at T&T Hanoi, while Ngoc of Nam Dinh showed his middle finger to The Cong fans when the two clubs clashed on March 15.

Reported by Dang Khoa – Lan Phuong