The chief coach of the national football team, Henrique Calisto, said that it is difficult to find replacements for Cong Vinh and Minh Phuong, who recently asked to be excused from the match against Greek Olympiakos.

The national squad’s captain Minh Phuong (12) wants to be absent from the upcoming friendly match against Olympiakos.

The coach re-affirmed that the 23-member list that he released last week is not the strongest team. He expects to see a fresh spark from new members and the brilliance of senior players in the upcoming friendly match.

Calisto didn’t speak about Cong Vinh and Minh Phuong’s petition to withdraw from this match because he didn’t receive their petitions; he just learned of the information from local newspapers.

However, he said that their positions on the national squad are irreplaceable. “I can call up many strikers to my team but it is difficult to find a replacement for Cong Vinh, because he is the best striker at present. It is the same for Minh Phuong. The team needs his leadership. So I have reasons for worrying if they don’t want to play in the match against Olympiakos,” Calisto said.

The 23-member list of the national squad has been submitted to the General Department of Physical Training and Sports.

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) had no idea about this case because they hadn’t received the two players’ official petitions. However, VFF’s senior official Nguyen Trong Giap said: “Though we haven’t received Cong Vinh nor Minh Phuong’s petition yet, we talked with Mr. Calisto about this issue. Under FIFA’s rules, footballers have to obey national football federations’ orders of summon for any match, friendly or official.”

VietNamNet/VNE