Quang Hai - The Burden Called 'Star' and the Tactical Puzzle of Vietnamese Football

I have followed Vietnamese football since the days when My Dinh Stadium did not yet have a complete roof, and I have witnessed dozens of 'stars' being glorified and then forgotten. But I have never seen a player carry the weight of an entire football nation on his shoulders like Nguyen Quang Hai. They call him 'Vietnam's Messi' - a title both glamorous and dangerous. And when the national team struggles, all eyes turn to number 19, as if he has the magic to save everything.

The truth that domestic media does not want to say is: we are placing on Quang Hai's shoulders a burden that no single player in the world can carry, not even the real Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. When Argentina won the 2026 World Cup, they did not just have Messi; they had a perfectly built collective around him. But we, we have a collective waiting for Quang Hai to create miracles by himself.

Look at the data from AFF Cup 2026, where we were eliminated in the semifinals by Thailand. Quang Hai had a total of 4 shots on target in the entire tournament, creating 7 goal-scoring opportunities for teammates. These numbers are not bad, but they reveal a larger problem: he has to do too much by himself. Meanwhile, Thailand's Chanathip Songkrasin - the player often compared to Quang Hai - only needs to focus on creating, because around him there are others doing the defensive and ball-winning duties.

The truth no one wants to hear is: we are wasting Quang Hai's talent by asking him to do everything, instead of building a system for him to shine. In the last 5 matches of the Vietnam national team, Quang Hai averaged 62 touches per game. That sounds impressive, but when analyzed more closely, 38% of those touches occurred in our own half or the midfield area, where he has to drop deep to receive the ball and initiate attacks. A top creative player must receive the ball in the opponent's final third - where matches are decided. And that is the problem.

I remember an afternoon in 2026, after a match between Japan and Vietnam in the World Cup qualifiers, when I had the chance to sit down with a Japanese tactical analyst at a coffee shop in Roppongi. He told me a sentence I will never forget: 'You have a rough gem, but you are wearing it as a necklace instead of setting it in a perfect ring.' He was right. We have Quang Hai, but we do not have the system to elevate him. We do not have the passes from the backline designed to deliver the ball to his feet at the right moment. We do not have intelligent movements from teammates to stretch the opponent's defense, creating space for him to operate.

Compare this with how Japan uses Takefusa Kubo - a player with a playing style similar to Quang Hai. Kubo is not the most frequent toucher of the ball in Japan's squad at the 2026 Asian Cup, but every touch he makes happens in dangerous positions. Kubo's touch rate in the final third is 41%, while Quang Hai's corresponding figure at AFF Cup 2026 was only 23%. This is not a difference in talent but a difference in tactical system and how the team is organized.

The problem goes deeper. I have followed Vietnamese football since the 1990s, and I recognize a repeating pattern: we always look for a 'hero' to rescue the team, instead of building a strong collective. From Le Huynh Duc, to Pham Thanh Luong, to Quang Hai - each generation has a star expected to do everything. And each generation, we fail when facing teams with better systems.

Look at how Thailand operates; they do not depend on any single individual. Chanathip is a star, but when he is marked out of the game, they have Plan B, Plan C. They have a tactical system built from the academy, passed down through generations of coaches. But we, we are still looking for a miracle from the number 19 jersey.

I was once thrown out of a press conference in Tokyo for asking a difficult question to Japan's head coach. But before that, I had a long discussion with a former Vietnamese international - who requested anonymity - about this very issue. He said: 'We know the problem, but no one dares to say it. Because if we say Quang Hai should not do too much, people will think we are criticizing him.' That is the danger of creating a 'star' in a developing football nation: it prevents honest tactical discussions.

Data from the 2026 season at Cong An Ha Noi FC also shows the same thing. Quang Hai has a 58% successful dribble rate, but his average turnovers per game are 3.2 - a worryingly high number. When a player has to hold the ball too much, opponents learn how to mark him and apply pressure. And when he loses the ball, the whole team faces dangerous counter-attacks.

The story I want to tell here is not about Quang Hai - he is just a victim of a flawed system. The real story is about how we view football. We worship individuals too much, believe too much in moments of genius, and are too lazy to build a sustainable system.

I have lived in Japan for over three decades, and I have witnessed how they build football from the foundation. They do not look for a 'Japanese Messi' - they build a football education system where every player knows their role. The result is they have balanced squads where no one is irreplaceable, but everyone completes their duties.

If we truly want Vietnamese football to go far, we need to start by changing our way of thinking. We need to stop looking for a 'hero' and start building a 'collective'. We need to stop asking 'What did Quang Hai do?' and start asking 'How did our system create conditions for Quang Hai to shine?'

I will continue to follow Vietnamese football, not because I believe in miracles, but because I believe in proper processes. And I hope that one day, we will have a team where no one has to carry the weight of an entire nation on their shoulders. Only then can we truly compete with the top football nations in Asia.