Quang Hải and the story of a generation

At My Dinh Stadium on the night of August 7, when Quang Hải stepped onto the pitch as captain against Cambodia, he silently passed a milestone: his 84th appearance for the national team, officially overtaking Le Cong Vinh to become the player with the most caps in Vietnamese history. There were no fireworks, no banners. Yet behind that figure is a narrative much larger than an individual achievement.

Before the ASEAN Cup semifinals, social media was still rife with criticism aimed at Quang Hải: From purely technical issues, people arrived at a harsh conclusion: Quang Hải is "past his prime."

Is that true? Perhaps only coach Kim Sang Sik's opinion carries enough weight to answer. As we have seen, the Korean manager is a pragmatic man. Just look at the squad, mostly made up of older players, which he brought to the 2026 ASEAN Cup to see that his choices are not based on emotion or reputation.

So, in Quang Hải's case, the public is asking the wrong question.

Look at the Vietnam squad for the 2026 ASEAN Cup: only three names remain from the 2018 AFF Cup championship squad: Doan Van Hau, Dang Van Lam, and Quang Hải. The champion team eight years ago had 15 players aged 23 or younger, with 8 of them starting regularly, while in this tournament, there are only 5 U23 players, and only Dinh Bac has been a regular starter.

A beautiful generation, once compared to the "diamonds" of Vietnamese football, is quietly stepping away from the spotlight at an age that should still be their prime. Quang Hải, at 29, has not only survived but also retained the captain's armband. His contemporaries should have been here with him, in a starting lineup with an average age of nearly 29. While coach Kim Sang Sik needs experienced players for his title defense, almost only Quang Hải from the 2018 generation remains as a pillar.

The real issue is not about the form of one individual over a few matches, but rather the question: why can't a generation of talent, the same age as Quang Hải, maintain top-level performance over a decade, while he has stood firm, setting a record for national team appearances at age 29 with many more years to play? In other words: Quang Hải can do it, why can't the others?!

Could it be that we cultivate outstanding generations of players, but lack a strong enough ecosystem—from training regimes and sports medicine to a high-level domestic competition environment—to help them maintain consistent performance at ages 28–30, the peak years of a professional footballer's career?

Or have we drained the essence of our talents by running the national team unscientifically, yielding to public pressure rather than basing decisions on performance principles, so that those very talents cannot sustain their quality and passion for the game?

And from that perspective, we should evaluate Quang Hải more accurately. To see that being chosen as captain by coach Kim Sang Sik for the ASEAN Cup is a recognition of a great player. To see that his current issues mainly stem from his playing position, something that coach Kim Sang Sik will try to optimize to make the most of Quang Hải's value.

Ahead are two legs of the semifinal against Malaysia. That will be the clearest answer, not to the question of whether Quang Hải is still at his peak, but to a bigger question: what has Vietnamese football learned from the fragility of a golden generation?