Former SLNA striker Ho Tuan Tai: Bumpy road to the national team
(Baonghean.vn) - Although he has been famous for a long time, the player born in 1995 has only been called up to the Vietnam National Team once, under coach Park Hang-seo.
Unfortunately, in the friendly match between the Vietnam National Team and U22 Vietnam, which took place at Cam Pha Stadium (Quang Ninh) in December last year,former SLNA strikersuffered a serious injury and missed the first 5 matches of Ho Chi Minh City Club in phase 1 of V.League 2021.
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| Ho Tuan Tai was injured the first time he was called up by coach Park Hang-seo. Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang |
Returning after a long period of injury, Ho Tuan Tai's familiar position at Thong Nhat Stadium is on the bench. According to statistics, in 7 times playing in phase 1 of V.League 2021, Ho Tuan Tai was only present in the starting lineup exactly 1 time.
Apart from the reason that Coach Polking always gives priority to foreign strikers, Ho Tuan Tai himself has not shown much when he is on the field. No goals and no assists are enough to prove the "harmlessness" of the 26-year-old striker.
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| In SLNA's shirt, Ho Tuan Tai had 2 seasons as the team's top scorer. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh |
Obviously, compared to what he did in SLNA's previous shirt, Ho Tuan Tai is no longer himself at the present time. Don't forget that in V.League 2019 and V.League 2020, the player from Hung Nguyen (Nghe An) was SLNA's main striker with 8 and 5 goals respectively.
Therefore, in the Vietnam National Team's training session for the remaining 3 matches in Group G of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, held in the UAE, Ho Tuan Tai was not named in the list by Coach Park Hang-seo. A completely reasonable decision by the Korean strategist.
Now that V.League 2021 cannot return as planned (July 31), faces like Ho Tuan Tai will not have the opportunity to prove their abilities to Coach Park. And it is almost certain that the list of the Vietnam National Team in the upcoming gathering (late August) will still be the players who have just fought in the UAE, plus Dang Van Lam.
That said, Ho Tuan Tai's path back to the Vietnam National Team is extremely difficult. However, the opportunity for the former SLNA striker is still there. Because objectively, Ho Tuan Tai is one of the leading strikers of Vietnamese football, alongside Nguyen Tien Linh, Nguyen Cong Phuong, Nguyen Van Toan and Ha Duc Chinh.
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, Ho Tuan Tai will once again be able to play for the Vietnamese national team, first of all in the matches of the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia and the 2020 AFF Cup./.
