After the 2016 AYA Bank Cup, Vinh announced that he would retire from international football after the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup. If only the Vietnamese national squad able to qualify for the finals in the 2016 edition, Vinh said that he will think twice about his retirement as he received request from international clubs to play in their league for the 2017 edition, but as the deep wounds to his heart was too severe to heal as Vietnam unable to qualify the AFF finals for the third time since the 2008 edition, Vinh decide to officially retire shortly after the end of the match against Indonesia in the 2016 semi-finals.