Vietnamese Football and the Endurance Problem – Time to Look at the Roots

In the 90+3rd minute, during the match between TP.HCM FC and Hà Nội FC at Thống Nhất Stadium, the score was level at 1-1. The ball was lofted forward by the home team's defender, but their striker no longer had the energy to sprint. He stopped in the middle of the pitch, hands on hips, breathing heavily while the referee showed a yellow card for time-wasting. In the stands, the growing impatience turned into sympathetic applause. This was not a bad match, but it exposed a harsh truth: Vietnamese football still doesn't know how to finish off opponents in decisive moments, and much of the reason comes down to fitness. Over more than two decades of following domestic football, I've seen countless teams play well in the first half only to drop points in the second half. The story isn't just about players being physically tired; it's also a tactical and psychological issue that hasn't been adequately trained. V-League, the highest level of Vietnamese football, has long suffered from various limitations. While developed football nations like Japan and South Korea have adopted modern fitness regimes combined with sports nutrition and functional recovery, many Vietnamese clubs still treat long-distance running as the main fitness exercise. The problem became more serious when the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) allowed up to five substitutions per match after the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a major tactical change for every team. For teams with deep squads, it's an opportunity to increase pressure in the final 20 minutes. But for most V-League teams, where the quality gap between substitutes and starters is evident, making multiple substitutions can disrupt rhythm and make the team look disconnected. There is one statistic I often mention in my commentary: in the 2026-24 V-League season, goals scored in the final 10 minutes of matches accounted for roughly 28% of all goals, a 4% increase from the previous season. More notably, the majority of equalizers or winning goals in those minutes came from teams with stronger squads. This shows that as the match wears on, fitness becomes a decisive factor. The fresher team has livelier legs and therefore sharper execution. But we must be careful not to blame everything on fitness. I believe the root cause of the late-game fatigue among Vietnamese teams lies not with the players but with the coaches' approach to matches. In an environment where results pressure is intense, Vietnamese coaches often opt for a safe counter-attacking style. However, this style demands tremendous physical capacity for rapid transitions from defense to attack. Without a fitness foundation built from a young age, those demands lead to overexertion and injuries. There is a paradox I've clearly observed: the best-conditioned teams in V-League aren't those that run the most, but those that 'run cleverly'. They pick moments to accelerate and moments to ease off. A team that presses all-out all match without organization will quickly tire. Meanwhile, a team that maintains shape and presses in waves can sustain pressure for 90 minutes. This explains why some teams without fitness stars still perform more consistently at the end of the season. Take a typical example: at SEA Games 31 and 32, Vietnam's U23 team often played brilliantly in the group stage but showed clear signs of fatigue in the semifinals and finals. The reason isn't just the high match density for young players but also poor recovery from high-pressure games. We talk a lot about technical skill and tactics, but little about sleep management, nutrition, and psychological support. In the modern era, fitness is not just muscle strength but also the ability to withstand pressure throughout a match. For me, the biggest issue is Vietnam's over-reliance on a few talented players. Most teams build their tactics around stars like Nguyễn Hoàng Đức, Nguyễn Quang Hải, or Nguyễn Tiến Linh. When those players are marked out or their fitness declines, the team often looks clueless. This has become a chronic weakness whenever Vietnam faces teams with better physical foundations, such as Thailand or Japan. We don't lack tactical ideas, but we lack a system to turn those ideas into reality on a solid fitness base. Another fascinating point is that Vietnamese football can learn a lot from other sports. During my time working in multi-sport event management, I noticed that Vietnamese track-and-field athletes performed better after training abroad. They didn't just change their training programs; they also changed their mindset toward recovery. In contrast, many Vietnamese footballers still believe that you have to 'feel the burn' to get fit. That outdated mindset does more harm than good to their careers. At the club level, fitness management still isn't adequately professionalized. Most V-League clubs hire foreign fitness coaches, but these experts often lack time to understand the physiology and culture of Vietnamese players. Programs designed for European bodies may be too heavy or too light for Vietnamese bodies. Vietnamese football therefore needs to develop its own sports science foundation based on data and in-depth research into the physique, climate, and environment at home. From a macro perspective, Vietnamese football cannot grow through lucky victories. It requires a long-term strategy and patience. Instead, we still see many teams doing whatever it takes to win each match, even at the expense of players' health. The result is many serious injuries in training and matches in V-League. Managers must realize that fitness cannot be improved overnight; it must start with youth development and be pursued consistently. It's time for Vietnamese football to undergo a quiet revolution. That revolution begins in youth academies in Hà Nội, Vinh, Huế, and TP.HCM – where 10-year-old kids, instead of just playing street football, need to learn how to eat, sleep, run, and recover like true professional athletes. It also begins at clubs, where doctors and fitness coaches should be treated as key members rather than peripheral parts of the coaching staff. Look at what Japan has achieved after nearly thirty years of persistent football reform. If Vietnamese football had a clear development strategy and, above all, the courage to invest in sports science, we could fully compete with regional football powers. The road won't be easy, but it's the only sustainable one. We can blame the fixture congestion, the weather, the lack of pitches. But if we don't immediately improve the foundational fitness training system, Vietnamese football will forever be 'king in the village, still not equal to anyone in the neighboring village'. Frankly, I'm tired of seeing young talents get injured at 18 due to improper training. Fitness isn't just about lifting weights; it's the science of heartbeats. Let children run with joy, but teach them the lesson of endurance intelligently. That is the key to taking Vietnamese football further on the continental map.