VietNamNet Bridge – Hoa Phat Hanoi’s striker Timothy is the best scorer at the V-League 2011 with four goals in three games. However, the player’s unsporting behavior gives Hoa Phat a headache.

Hoa Phat Hanoi’s striker Timothy (red).

At the 62^nd minute in the match between Hoa Phat Hanoi and Song Lam Nghe An in Vinh city, the score was 1-1. If this score was maintained, this would give Hoa Phat one point.

In a competition for ball, Timothy suddenly left the ball to beat a rival fullback. He received a red card. With only nine players (both team had already lost a player each), Hoa Phat was defeated in the last minutes.

Hoa Phat’s coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh said that Timothy’s red card harmed the team. With the red card, the striker will be suspended from the two next games. It will be a great loss for Hoa Phat because Timothy is the team’s pillar.

This is the second time that Timothy caused difficulties for Hoa Phat. When V-League 2010 nearly closed, he made demanded a higher wage and refused to play football if Hoa Phat didn’t comply. Hoa Phat ended its contract with Timothy before term. Coach Vinh had to recruit Timothy again at V-League because he couldn’t find anyone as good.

Timothy is only one among many foreign players who quarrel with their teammates, making wage claims, breaking contracts, etc. In 2007, striker Williams of Hoa Phat Hanoi asked to be paid extra money for his participation in a significant match against An Giang.

Amaobi, a Nigerian striker who played for Nam Dinh and Da Nang clubs, is called “King of Fuss”. In 2008, he accused the coaching board of Da Nang club of reducing his cooking ration and not allowing him to play. The player had to apologize to the team and accept a fine for his slanders.

Another foreign player, Leandro, caused a lot of difficulties to Hai Phong club. At V-League 2009, he demanded that Hai Phong recruits his friend – Primenta – or otherwise he would not play his best. Primenta was only an average halfback and was a burden for Hai Phong for a half of year.

At V-League 2010, Leandro demanded a double wage, to allow him to rent a hotel room and travel to the coaching stadium by his own car. The Brazilian player also quarreled with his teammates several times.

Early V-League 2011, striker Samson broke the contract with Dong Thap to play for Hanoi T&T. However in the end, he had to stay because he was unable to pay$500,000 of compensation to Dong Thap.

Striker Molina of Binh Duong was found dead in a hotel in HCM City from drug overdose. After his death, striker Tshamala of Dong Tam Long An stated: “Many foreign players at V-League take drugs”.

Why are foreign players quarrelsome? Because Vietnamese football clubs are dependent on foreign players, according to V-League coaches.

To date, only Hoang Anh Gia Lai dared to fire their foreign players. In 2009, after two games, this club dismissed Brazilian Agostinho after he picked up a fight with Vietnamese American striker Lee Nguyen.

Some said that there were only few good foreign players in Vietnam so Vietnamese clubs don’t dare to dismiss them.

PV