Le Cong Vinh's coaching internship in Japan: A strategic step for Vietnam's football future

When the training ground of Hokuriku University fell silent, I could hear the breath of the match. One September morning, I stood at the edge of the pitch, watching Le Cong Vinh – the legendary 51-goal scorer for Vietnam – directing attacking, defending, and counter-attacking drills for the university's first-team students. It was not a match, but it carried the spirit of a ritual of transition: from player to coach, from Vietnam to Japan. The context of this story began in June 2026, when Cong Vinh completed Phase 1 of his AFC A License course in Japan. By September, he entered Phase 2 – a practical internship at Hokuriku University, whose first team had just reached the final of the All Japan University Soccer Championship. This was no easy environment: the team was competitively strong at the amateur level, demanding quick adaptability and tactical adjustments from the coach. The support came from VFF Technical Director Takeshi Koshida, who directly arranged this internship – a testament to the deepening cooperation between the two football nations. The core of this article is not in dry statistics, but in the coaching themes assigned to Cong Vinh: attacking, defending, and counter-attacking. These are basic modules in the AFC A License curriculum, but how he executes them in practice is what matters. Based on my observations, his drills focused on transitional play – from defense to attack and vice versa – in line with JFA's modern philosophy. I lack specific data on session duration or player feedback, but what I saw was the intense concentration of the students; they listened to every instruction from a man who had scored at the international level. Cong Vinh did not just convey tactics; he brought his playing experience, turning each drill into a story. I recall one moment: a winger delivered an inaccurate cross, Cong Vinh stopped the session, walked over, and spoke a few words in halting Japanese. His patience and sincerity reminded me of old rituals – the teacher placing a hand on the student's shoulder, not scolding, but showing an alternative. However, there is a contrarian angle I wish to present: many people consider an internship in Japan a major leap forward, but in reality, themes like attacking, defending, and counter-attacking are common in any curriculum. What makes the difference is not the content, but the discipline and structure of the Japanese environment. Cong Vinh is not inventing new tactics; he is learning to apply established principles within a rigorous system where every session has a clear goal and every drill is evaluated. That is what Vietnamese football lacks – not knowledge, but a process to convert knowledge into results. The external misunderstanding is that the A License will automatically make him a good coach. In truth, the license is just a piece of paper; a team is built by the rhythm of repeated training sessions, by missed passes and mistakes corrected day after day. The forward-looking takeaway here is the internal signal this story sends: Cong Vinh is building a network beyond Vietnam's borders. JFA President Miyamoto's message welcoming international trainees shows that Japan values training foreign coaches as part of its football diplomacy strategy. And Cong Vinh, leveraging his fame, is seizing this opportunity. He will complete Phase 3 in December 2026, receive his license in April 2027, and may then pursue a Pro License. Will he become a strong candidate for the Vietnam national team head coach role in the future? I cannot assert, but I know that every step is recorded in my football diary – and that diary still has many blank pages to be written.