Filip Nguyen: 'I want to represent Vietnam to attend World Cup'

In order to strengthen the Vietnamese team in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers, VFF plans to search for talented overseas Vietnamese players living and playing in Europe. One of the names targeted by VFF and Park Hang-seo is goalkeeper Filip Nguyen.

Filip Nguyen revealed that he is trying to learn about Park Hang-seo. Especially, the Vietnamese overseas Vietnamese goalkeeper has set a goal with Vietnam to attend the World Cup.

Filip Nguyen shared: "I have tried to find all the matches of Vietnam on youtube. I really want to play with Vietnam in the World Cup, I am trying to naturalize and hope someday I'll play football for the Vietnamese team."

Filip Nguyen wants to wear a Vietnamese shirt.

Goalie Filip Nguyen, 28, said he is still waiting to receive Vietnamese nationality. "My father is doing the naturalization procedures for me, he is trying very hard to complete it the fastest and hope that I will soon have Vietnamese nationality" - Filip revealed.

Due to the Czech league being delayed, Filip Nguyen can only receive lesson plans from the coach and practice at home. This Vietnamese goalkeeper has very impressive performance when he keeps a clean sheet 17 times in 50 matches for Slovan Liberec. He kept 1 clean sheet every three matches in average. The longest consecutive clean sheets time is 440 minutes, equivalent to 5 consecutive games without conceding.

Filip Nguyen acknowledges that goalkeepers compete in Europe more hard than in Vietnam. He said: "I think the way of playing football in Vietnam is very different from Europe, because the goalkeepers have to be more active and involved in ball situations as much as the strikers."

In 50 matches, Filip Nguyen has 142  times saving the net, an average of 2.84 times a game. The number of goals conceded is also very commendable with 54 goals in 50 matches, an average of 1 goal per game. In addition, this goalkeeper also successfully catched 4/7 penalty kick.

Currently, the Vietnamese team is at the top of Group G with 11 points and an unbeaten record in 3 victories and 2 draws. Park Hang-seo's army needs to gain 4-6 points in the remaining 3 matches (Malaysia, Indonesia and UAE) to make sure there is a ticket to continue. With the current performance, the possibility for Vietnam in the 3rd qualifying round is very large.