Dinh Xuan Tien - from Nghe An Newspaper Cup Top Scorer to Southeast Asia U23 Top Scorer

Southeast Asia U23 top scorer

“Coming back is still like the first time.” That was the feeling that Dinh Xuan Tien wrote on his personal Facebook page after he and U23 Vietnam successfully defended the U23 Southeast Asian Championship. At this year’s tournament, Xuan Tien showed brilliant performance, contributing 3 goals for U23 Vietnam, thereby receiving the title of Top Scorer.

Looking back at the 2022 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, Xuan Tien was a player who promised to shine in the U23 Vietnam jersey. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he had to say goodbye to the tournament early. So when U23 Vietnam successfully defended the title, the midfielder from Song Lam Nghe An burst into happiness and even though it was his second time winning the championship, for Tien it was still like the first time.

Looking back at the journey that Xuan Tien has experienced at the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, it can be affirmed that Coach Hoang Anh Tuan did not look at the wrong person when giving the midfielder born in 2003 the opportunity to start. Xuan Tien's presence in midfield has helped U23 Vietnam attack in a diverse and effective way. Xuan Tien possesses a modern style of playing football. It is rare to see him making unnecessary moves, so U23 Vietnam's attacks are often developed quickly, in line with the movements of his teammates. That has created many breakthroughs in the attacking style of the reigning U23 Southeast Asian Champion. Not only playing the role of "architect" for U23 Vietnam, Xuan Tien also shows his ability to move effectively without the ball. That gives him many opportunities to approach the opponent's goal. 3 goals at the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship is the most convincing affirmation of the talent of the midfielder from Nam Dan.

Specifically, in the opening match of the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship of U23 Vietnam, before Xuan Tien entered the field at the beginning of the second half, U23 Vietnam played quite stalemately. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan decided to bring the player born in 2003 into the field to replace Van Truong. It was this player who breathed new life into the playing style of the Golden Star team. Not only did he help the home team attack coherently, but Dinh Xuan Tien also scored the ball himself into the net of U23 Laos, raising the score to 3-1. The goal came after a situation of breaking the offside trap, then skillfully flicking the outside of the foot of the midfielder wearing the number 9 shirt. After that, it was also Xuan Tien who "set the table" to help Vi Hao set the score at 4-1.

Especially in the match against the strong opponent U23 Malaysia in the semi-finals, Dinh Xuan Tien proved his class when he scored a double, contributing greatly to helping the home team win big.

With those 3 goals, Xuan Tien was awarded the title of Top Scorer at the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Tournament.

Sharing his feelings after the tournament, Dinh Xuan Tien said: "I am very happy to receive the title of Top Scorer at the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Tournament. This is the result of a long period of hard work in training and competing. I will consider this title as motivation for the next stage."

Nghe An Newspaper Cup top scorer

Looking back at the memories of Dinh Xuan Tien's early days in football, this player still remembers the first prestigious football tournament he participated in, which was the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children Tournament.

“Participating in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup gave me the opportunity to catch the eye of the scouts at Song Lam Nghe An. And I must affirm that the Nghe An Newspaper Cup is what brought me to professional football,” said Dinh Xuan Tien.

When recalling the Nghe An Newspaper Cup in 2014, many people still cannot forget the image of a player with an unattractive appearance, but who played football intelligently and could "fight independently" to solve the match. Dinh Xuan Tien is considered the "team-carrying" player of Nam Dan Children's Football Team. The midfielder born in 2003 helped Nam Dan win the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Championship for the first time in 2014.

Also at that year's tournament, Xuan Tien scored 8 goals for Nam Dan Children's Club, becoming the top scorer of the 2014 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Children's Tournament.

“At that time, participating in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup was not only my dream, but also the dream of many of my peers. I was even happier when I received the title of Top Scorer at the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children Tournament in 2014. That was also an unforgettable beautiful memory in my football career” - Dinh Xuan Tien recalled.

It can be said that it is quite lame to analyze the relationship between the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Top Scorer and the Southeast Asian U23 Championship Top Scorer of Dinh Xuan Tien. However, if you look closely, fans can still see some similarities between these two titles. And the similarity that cannot be ignored is Xuan Tien's feelings when receiving the Top Scorer title of the two tournaments, at two very special times in his football career. The Top Scorer titles of those two tournaments have more or less had, are having, and will have an impact on Dinh Xuan Tien's football career.