A highland boy determined to join Song Lam Nghe An furnace to satisfy his passion

The boy from the highlands and his passion for football

Among the 30 players participating in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup, the most notable one that caught the eye of the Song Lam Nghe An scouts was player Lu Anh Khoi from the Quy Chau Youth Team. This is considered an “unprecedented” case for a team from the mountainous region of Nghe An. Because through the 26 times the Nghe An Newspaper Cup was organized, there has never been a representative from the Phu Quy region that has had so many players that have left such a strong impression on the audience and experts.

Khoi was born into an intellectual family, so for many years, he has always been an excellent student in his class and school. However, in addition to diligently practicing his letters and numbers, the boy born in 2012 also considers sports an indispensable spiritual food after each school hour.

Ms. Bich Hop - Lu Anh Khoi's mother, said: "Since childhood, Khoi has loved sports. He played many sports such as badminton, table tennis, swimming... However, football is the sport Khoi is most passionate about. When he was in 5th grade during the summer break, in order to create conditions for him to satisfy his passion, I decided to take him to Vinh to have the opportunity to attend community football classes, which was the first step to help Khoi develop his talent for playing football. Not only practicing skills on the field, Khoi also often opened social networking sites to watch experts instruct on how to handle the ball."

With his talent and passion for learning, Lu Anh Khoi was quickly selected by coach Le Viet Khoa to join the Quy Chau Children's Team to participate in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup. In the 2023 season, Quy Chau Children's Team could not pass the group stage, but Khoi was the only player on the team to catch the attention of the scouts of Song Lam Nghe An. However, Khoi's family did not want their son to be away from home at such a young age. Therefore, that year Khoi missed the appointment with the Nghe An youth football training center.

Down the mountain to satisfy passion

Entering the Nghe An Newspaper Cup in 2024, Lu Anh Khoi is expected to continue to be the leader to help Quy Chau Youth overcome the bad luck of previous seasons. In this year's season, the team from Phu Quy is in the same group with quite strong teams such as Vinh City Youth, Nghi Loc Youth and Tuong Duong Youth.

In the first match against the reigning runner-up of the tournament, Quy Chau Youth was a bit confused, so they had to swallow the bitter pill. However, in the second match, Lu Anh Khoi's talent began to awaken. This midfielder demonstrated his leadership role when he completely dominated the midfield. With his smooth dribbling and passing, Anh Khoi created many scoring opportunities for his teammates. The excellence of Khoi and the entire team helped Quy Chau Youth have an extremely important victory against Tuong Duong Youth.

In the final round, which was decisive for the ticket to the quarter-finals for Quy Chau Youth, Lu Anh Khoi's talent was once again revealed. Almost all of the attacks of the representative from the "red rock" region went through Anh Khoi's feet. Khoi's twists of the opponent's flanks and skillful passes kept Nghi Loc Youth's defense in a state of alarm. In particular, Lu Anh Khoi's goal to increase the score to 2-1 was the highlight of this match.

Although Quy Chau Youth had to stop before the defending champion Quynh Luu in the quarter-finals, Lu Anh Khoi's contributions to the home team cannot be denied. It can be said that the midfielder from the "red rock" region has shown a strong impression at the Nghe An Newspaper Cup 2024. And with that brilliant performance, Lu Anh Khoi has caught the attention of scouts at the Song Lam Nghe An Youth Football Training Center.

Currently, Lu Anh Khoi and 29 excellent U12 players at the 2024 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament are being summoned by Nghe An Club for additional selection to the Song Lam Nghe An U12 Team.

During the first training session at the Nghe An youth training center, Lu Anh Khoi received many compliments from the coaches at this center.

After the test at Song Lam Nghe An, experienced coach Le Ky Phuong commented: “Khoi is a player with good thinking, personal technique, physique, and speed. However, if he wants to join the U12 Song Lam Nghe An team, he still needs to be taught more to meet the professional requirements.”

This selection round has 30 youth players of Nghe An Newspaper Cup participating in the test, but Song Lam Nghe An only takes 10 players. The competition is quite big, as this year's tournament has many outstanding faces. However, we still hope that Lu Anh Khoi will perform well in the selection round to be signed by Song Lam Nghe An. This will also be an important milestone to help the midfielder from Phu Quy to live fully with his passion for playing professional football.