The remote house and poor childhood of U23 player Xuan Manh

The road to Xuan Manh’s house had to pass through a field covered in red dust. When we arrived at the house, Mr. Pham Xuan Linh (born 1964), Manh’s father, had just taken a break from plowing the field.

Not as agile and resourceful as his wife, he only stays at home to take care of housework and farming. He has to rely on his wife to run around and take care of "foreign affairs" like picking up and dropping off the children.

It took him three times to hear our question about Xuan Manh clearly. “My father is hard of hearing, speak louder,” explained his daughter, Pham Thi Mai (born 1993), sitting next to him.

According to Ms. Mai, many years ago, Mr. Linh suffered from migraines. The pain was so bad that he bought medicine to treat the illness at home. After taking the medicine, his headache improved but he discovered that he could no longer hear clearly in one ear. He had no money to go to the hospital for treatment and had to work in the fields so he had to leave it alone. Over time, he became completely deaf in one ear.

According to Mr. Linh, the path to a football career for player Xuan Manh was not easy.

Pham Xuan Manh's father: 'Going to a soccer competition in the province, Manh only had 10 thousand dong'

(Baonghean.vn) - Born and raised in the poor countryside of the mountainous commune of Minh Thanh (Yen Thanh), Pham Xuan Manh had to follow his father to work in the fields for hire. During those hard days, Manh got acquainted with football by playing grapefruit on his father's plowed furrows to nurture his passion.

He remembers most the days when his son was invited to Vinh City to take the entrance exam for Song Lam Nghe An Club. That was the first long trip for a member of Mr. Linh's family.

“We saved up 250,000 VND for my wife to take our son to the city for 3 days, waiting for his turn to take the exam. My wife said that going to the city, the cost of food and accommodation was so expensive that by the end of the day, all the money was gone. In the luggage of the mother and son, there was only a pack of instant noodles. Manh, despite being young, knew how to give in to his mother. His mother loved him so much that she said: “Eat so you have the strength to take the exam in the afternoon.”

After the exam, when it was time to pay the rent, the mother and son had to borrow money from the person who was accompanying them. However, the owner of the place said that someone had already paid for the rent for Mrs. Ha and her son. Someone who knew about the difficult situation of Xuan Manh's family secretly helped.

“12 years have passed, my family still doesn’t know who that person is. We still owe them a thank you,” Mr. Linh said emotionally.

In his eyes, Xuan Manh was a disadvantaged child. He said: “During the time he was training at Song Lam Nghe An Club, there was one time when he really scared us.”

According to Mr. Linh, at that time there were no mobile phones so he periodically went to the post office to call his son. I called down to the club to meet Van Duc, a player at the same club as Song Lam Nghe An. Duc "told": "Manh just lost money so his eyes are red from crying".

“It was 140,000 VND, the club’s support money for the players. For some reason, Manh lost it. He didn’t dare tell us, he just cried silently. At that time, I felt so sorry for him…”, Mr. Linh recounted.

Ms. Phan Thi Ha, Xuan Manh's mother, also shared: "In the past, at the club, Manh was taken care of for food and accommodation, but he still had to pay tuition for his cultural studies. When we had to pay for our children, if we could sell a chicken or a pig, we would be lucky. But if not, we would have to borrow money from relatives and neighbors."

She also remembers a time when she had to go to a parent-teacher meeting for her child but the family motorbike broke down. Van Duc’s mother had to go the other way to pick her up so that they could both go to the city.

There are three children in the family, Manh is the youngest but the only son. So during the harvest season, one sister is assigned to stay home to cook and take care of the pigs and chickens, while Manh goes to the fields with his other sister and parents.

“Manh was small but very good at plowing. The two sisters took turns plowing, finishing their own fields and then plowing for hire for other families,” Ms. Pham Thi Mai recalls the childhood of Xuan Manh and his sister.

Ms. Mai said: “I have been working hard since I was young, working very hard but eating very poorly. Every meal, I only had rice and pickled vegetables cooked with crabs and fish caught in the fields. Only occasionally, my mother bought meat. It was bad meat, fatty but still very delicious.”

According to Xuan Manh's sister, Manh and his three siblings never knew about a box of milk or a glass of sugar water during their childhood.

“On Tet, my mother bought sugar to use as seasoning. My sisters and I had to secretly dip our fingertips into the sugar bowl to taste the sweetness.

New clothes for the three sisters to wear during Tet were even more of a luxury. Every year, relatives would prepare some of their older siblings’ old clothes and send them to the three sisters. Some of the clothes that the older sister wore were too short, so they would give them to the younger sister.

However, knowing our family's circumstances, my three sisters and I never dared to ask for anything more," Mai said as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

According to Mai, because of the family's difficult circumstances, the children suffered one, and the parents suffered ten: "Whenever there was meat in the meal, my mother refused to take it and left it for the children. She was also always the one who instilled optimism and encouraged the children to try their best.

Now that Manh has been called up to the football team, he gets to eat and live in the team, so his meals no longer lack meat like before."

Mai and her older sister are married but are not well off financially and have not been able to help their parents. Manh is the youngest but is becoming the breadwinner for the family.

Xuan Manh once called his mother and told her: “Mom, I can’t take care of a lot, but if I’m short a few million, don’t tell my sister, I’ll take care of it. You’re married and have to take care of your children and your new family…” Hearing Mrs. Ha recount her brother’s phone call, Mai burst into tears again.

It is known that Xuan Manh is the breadwinner of the family. Every month, Manh sends money home to help his parents pay off debt and cover living expenses.

Players Van Duc and Xuan Manh interact at Nghe An Newspaper

(Baonghean.vn) - Two U23 Vietnam players who grew up from the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament, Van Duc and Xuan Manh, are interacting with readers at Nghe An Newspaper.