Around 60 German online newspapers have posted articles about German coach Falko Goetz’s deal with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

The most notable article was published by Kölner Express, in which Falko Goetz delivered an optimistic statement. He said that the goals that Vietnam sets for its national football squad at the qualifier round of the Olympic 2012, the World Cup 2014 and for its U23 team at the Southeast Asian Games 2011 are “growing opportunities”.

He said Vietnam’s football should not be discounted. “This country’s population is 85 million people and this will bring about potentials”.

The Kicker re-posted the interview on Kölner Express and added some information about the 2-year contract between Goetz and the VFF.

“Apart from EUR15,000 a month, Goetz is provided an apartment, air tickets and a car. He replaces Portuguese coach Henrique Calitsto and will have two local assistants,” the Kicker wrote, adding that Vietnam ranks 134th on FIFA’s ranking list.

“Falko Goetz, who was the coach of Hertha BSC, 1860 Muenchen and Holstein Kiel, is the 8th foreign coach of the Vietnamese national football team since 1985,” the Kicker wrote.

N-TV cited Goetz as saying that he had a holiday in Vietnam before he was invited to lead the Vietnam football team.

However, N-TV mentioned an incident in Goetz’s training career. According to N-TV, Goetz’s latest job was training Holstein Kiel FC. In September 2009, he had to leave this club for being accused of assaulting player Marco Stier. He was sued and the lawsuit finished last year.

T-online, TZ_online, Bild, 11Freunde, Zeit, etc. are among many websites that used the above information to write about Goetz’s job in Vietnam.

Morgenpost has a deeply-analyzed article about the event. “Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle committed to assist Vietnam in building its subways in HCM City and now, even in football, Vietnam will use a German: Falko Goetz, who led Hertha BSC and has just appointed as the coach of the Vietnam national football team”.

This newspaper listed Goetz among “adventurous coaches”, who agreed to lead unknown teams, besides Diego Maradona (Al-Wasl) and Berti Vogts (Azerbaijan).

PV