Cong An Nhan Dan and the Gonzalo Fornari gamble: When height is no longer a guarantee

The match between Cong An Nhan Dan and Long An in the first round of the 2026-2027 First Division ended 2-1. In the stands, no one mentioned Santos Thaileon. People only talked about Nguyen Hoang Anh, the substitute striker who scored both goals. I was sitting in the fourth row, behind the technical area, and I saw the expression on coach Nguyen Duc Thang's face when the final whistle blew. He didn't smile. He looked up at the stands, where a few Cong An Nhan Dan fans were singing. The audience remembers goals; I remember the eyes of the substitute when the whistle ends. It was the look of Santos Thaileon, who had just been signed as the First Division's top scorer last season, but whose name was not on the team sheet. The season opens with a heartbeat in the press room, before the opening whistle. Cong An Nhan Dan entered the 2026-2027 season with a single goal: to win the First Division and earn promotion to V-League. To do that, they recruited Santos Thaileon, the Brazilian striker who scored 14 goals for Quy Nhon United. But in the opening match against Long An, coach Nguyen Duc Thang decided not to register him. Without a foreign striker in attack, Cong An Nhan Dan still won, but struggled. Nguyen Hoang Anh's two goals came from unscripted plays. That's when I understood this team was looking for something different. And on September 15, they announced a new contract: Gonzalo Fornari, a 26-year-old Brazilian striker standing 2.01 meters tall, coming off a season with 7 goals for Busan IPark in K-League 2. Transfers are separations written in advance; only tears have no manuscript. Here, the separation could be Santos, or a tactical plan. Gonzalo Fornari is not an unfamiliar name to those who follow Korean football. He was once considered one of the best-built strikers in K-League 2. But 7 goals in a season is not the number of a 'killer.' It is the number of a player who knows how to seize opportunities. And in the Vietnamese First Division, where space is often squeezed by packed defenses, a 2.01m striker can be a solution for aerial situations. Cong An Nhan Dan under coach Nguyen Duc Thang is not a long-ball team. They control possession, circulate in midfield, and look to deliver the ball into the box with through passes. But when opponents actively defend in numbers, this team lacks an aerial focal point. In the match against Long An, at least three crosses from the right wing by Nguyen Van Huy found no one. Hoang Anh is not a heading striker. Santos Thaileon is also not tall (1.78m). So the arrival of Fornari brings a Plan B: crosses, corners, and aerial duels. However, the story is not simply about height. Based on my experience watching matches, strikers over 1.95m often struggle in Vietnam with fixture density and man-marking. They are pushed wide, tightly marked by shorter but quicker centre-backs. Kyle Hudlin, who played for Nam Dinh in the 2026-2026 season, is an example. He stood 2.06m, scored against the Vietnam national team in a friendly, and scored a brace in the Super Cup. But in V-League, Hudlin failed to score in 5 matches and soon left due to injury. That shows height does not automatically create goals. It needs a system to serve it, and a physique durable enough to withstand a packed schedule. Cong An Nhan Dan currently have two foreign strikers: Santos Thaileon and Gonzalo Fornari. The First Division allows registering up to three foreign players, but only two can be on the pitch at once. The important thing is not quantity, but choice. Coach Nguyen Duc Thang must decide who starts and who sits on the bench. Santos has proven his scoring ability in the First Division with 14 goals. Fornari has not. But Santos was not registered for the opening match. There are many reasons: he just recovered from injury, is not at peak fitness, or simply the coach wants to save him for more important matches. But signing Fornari shows Cong An Nhan Dan do not fully trust a single spearhead. They want to create competition. And that competition can lift both. One notable detail: Fornari stands 2.01m, the tallest among foreign players currently playing in the First Division and V-League. It is a statistic that easily impresses. But football is not measured in metres. It is measured in goals. I have watched many foreign players come to Vietnam with impressive stats, and many of them left without leaving a mark. Conversely, there are shorter players who became legends. The issue lies in adaptation. Fornari needs time to understand his teammates, the league, and how Vietnamese centre-backs defend. He needs to learn how to move in the box, how to use his height advantage without becoming a 'wooden post' in the attacking system. What many Cong An Nhan Dan fans are thinking: Fornari will be the golden key to the promotion dream. They look at his 2.01m height and imagine crosses from the wing, sharp headers. But there is a tactical blind spot here. First, Cong An Nhan Dan are not a long-ball team. Coach Nguyen Duc Thang prioritises possession and off-ball movement. A 2.01m striker can be useful in set pieces, but if he cannot participate in the passing game, he becomes a 'hole' in the pressing system. Second, the First Division is not a place for slow strikers. The centre-backs here are short but extremely quick and tenacious. They will not give Fornari space to head the ball. Third, and most importantly: Cong An Nhan Dan already have Santos Thaileon, a striker who has proven his scoring ability in this very league. Signing Fornari does not mean Santos is finished. It means coach Nguyen Duc Thang is preparing for a worst-case scenario: Santos gets injured, or Santos cannot reproduce his form. This competition is a good signal for the team, but it also raises a question about stability. From now until October 15, when the First Division transfer window closes, coach Nguyen Duc Thang has plenty of time to experiment. The match against Hue in the National Cup qualifier on October 6 is a chance for Fornari to debut. The away match at Khanh Hoa on October 11 is the real test. What I care about is not how many goals Fornari will score, but how he will change Cong An Nhan Dan's attacking approach. If this team finds a balance between possession and aerial play, they will be a heavyweight candidate for the title. If not, Fornari will just be an expensive contract sitting on the bench. And I will still be sitting there, in the fourth row, watching the eyes of the substitutes when the whistle ends. I keep the team's rhythm not with a drum, but by not missing a single training session in thirty years. As for Cong An Nhan Dan, they are keeping rhythm with contracts. Will that rhythm lead to promotion?