Vietnamese Esports: Lessons from the International Stage and Necessary Shocks

People often say Vietnamese esports is about five years behind the world. I used to believe that, until I sat in the stands at an international tournament and watched Vietnamese teams compete with something that wasn't a lack of technical skill, but rather the absence of something intangible: the confidence to make bold tactical choices. Recall a recent match between a Vietnamese team and a Korean team at an international tournament. The final score might have been 0-2 or 1-3, but if you only looked at the score, you would miss the entire story. The Vietnamese team chose a counter-attacking strategy, but they executed it with hesitation, with a fear of the opponent's speed. They had capable players, but they didn't dare to make the final decision. This is the core issue I've observed over 22 years of following sports. And it's not just a Vietnamese esports problem. It's a problem of a sports scene searching for its own identity. The current landscape of Vietnamese esports is complex. We have talented players, well-invested teams, and professionally organized domestic tournaments. But when stepping onto the international stage, we often fall into a defensive posture, waiting for opponents to make mistakes rather than creating opportunities ourselves. I recall 2026, when I wrote about the Chinese national football team adopting Iceland-style long-ball play instead of dreaming of tiki-taka. That article was heavily mocked. Seven days later, China beat South Korea 1-0 thanks to a lightning counter-attack from a long pass. My article suddenly received 1.8 million shares on WeChat. That was my first lesson about the power of bold tactical choices, and it has shaped how I view sports ever since. Vietnamese esports needs a similar shock. Not a lucky victory, but a change in tactical thinking. Look at the top teams in the world. They don't win because they have better players. They win because they dare to make choices that opponents don't expect. In League of Legends, a team might pick a support champion for the jungle, disrupting the opponent's entire plan. In Valorant, a team can completely change tactics between rounds, leaving opponents unable to adapt. These choices aren't reckless. They are the result of meticulous preparation and absolute trust in their own abilities. What Vietnamese esports lacks isn't skill. We have gamers who can match anyone technically. What we lack is the courage to change the way we play, to accept risks in order to gain a tactical advantage. I have been wrong before. In 2026, I predicted Brazil would win the World Cup, and they were eliminated by Belgium in the quarter-finals. I wrote an article titled 'I Was Wrong About Brazil' and it got 500,000 reads. That mistake taught me that honesty about one's limits is part of the growth process. Vietnamese esports also needs that honesty. We need to admit that we're playing too safely, and that safety is holding back our development. But I also need to question myself: Where could I be wrong? Maybe Vietnamese esports doesn't need to change tactics. Maybe the problem lies in the lack of international exposure, or the lack of a structured youth training system. These factors certainly play important roles. But I believe that without a shift in mindset, no matter how much exposure or training we have, we will remain in the same position. Look at the academies of major teams. They don't just train skills. They train tactical thinking. They teach young players how to read the game, how to make decisions under pressure, and most importantly, how to trust their own choices. That's what Vietnamese esports needs to build from the ground up. I recall 2026, when I analyzed data from 150 matches during the empty-stadium period. I discovered that the home advantage almost disappeared. My article was criticized as insensitive, but later, Liverpool's poor run of form validated my point. The lesson here is: data doesn't lie, but it needs to be viewed from a different angle. Vietnamese esports needs to view its own data from a different angle, rather than just looking at scores. A verifiable prediction: Within the next 12 months, if a Vietnamese team participates in a major international tournament, they will have at least one match where they win tactically, even if they lose on the scoreboard. That will be the first sign of change. If that doesn't happen, then we're still stuck in the old mindset. An empty stadium is a laboratory, and the crowd is a confounding variable. Vietnamese esports needs to treat its international defeats as a laboratory, where they can experiment with new tactics without fear of criticism from the crowd. Because, as I've said, an article that doesn't upset anyone is one I consider a failure. And a team that doesn't dare to experiment with new things is a team that limits itself. The transfer market isn't science – it's street psychology. And Vietnamese esports needs to understand that building a strong team isn't just about buying the best players. It's about creating an environment where players dare to make bold choices. The Vietnamese team's playstyle isn't the worst. What's worst is the crowd not daring to look directly at the real problems. We need to admit that Vietnamese esports is at an important crossroads. That crossroads doesn't come from winning a match, but from changing how we think about tactics. The first big push doesn't come from victory; it comes from a hated article. And Vietnamese esports needs such a push. A change in tactical thinking, a daring spirit, a trust in one's own abilities. That's what I hope to see in the near future. People hate me because I'm right one match earlier than they are. And I hope that one day, Vietnamese esports will prove me right when I say they need to change.