Ky Son Children's Team hopes to contribute good matches at the 2024 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children's Football Tournament

After the rain on the afternoon of May 28, coach Tran Van Hong and his team were able to go out to the field to practice. Although it was only the first day, the face of this experienced coach still showed excitement and high determination.

This year, the players of Ky Son district are all children, carefully selected from the district's youth - children tournament held in early May. Although the school year has just ended, when they were called up to the team, the players were very excited.

In previous seasons, the Ky Son Children's Team had to pack up and leave the tournament early after heavy losses when facing teams with better physical and technical foundations. However, according to coach Tran Van Hong, the players had beautiful plays that surprised many spectators because the training conditions and concentration time of the players were too short.

Drawing on experience from previous seasons of the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children's Football Tournament, this year coach Tran Van Hong directly organized the tournament at the district level to select players. Players in this season were selected from many communes such as Chieu Luu, Nam Can, Ta Ca and Muong Xen town.

Arriving 20 minutes later than the other players, Moong Van Quy (grade 5), a Khmu ethnic in La Ngan village, Chieu Luu commune, was driven by his uncle in the pouring rain over a distance of more than 20 km. According to coach Tran Van Hong, many children here are from poor households, but the most difficult is Moong Van Quy. His parents left home without any news, Quy had to live with his grandparents. Every day, Moong Van Quy's meals and studies depend on his uncle Chich Van Lap.

“My nephew has been passionate about football for several years now. After school, Quy and his friends invite each other to the field to play football. The recent district tournament where his team won the championship made me happy too. I can only encourage him to overcome his circumstances to pursue his dream. After many years of following the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament, I am also very excited. I never expected my nephew to compete here. I hope I will be able to see him perform some beautiful football moves,” said Mr. Chich Van Lap.

Standing next to Moong Van Quy is player Moong Van Kieu from Khanh Thanh village of Nam Can border commune. Although his skin is dark and his figure is small, Kieu is considered a player with good technical qualities. Moong Van Kieu's family is also one of the poor households in the commune. Every day, his parents have to go to the fields to grow rice and peanuts to take care of Kieu and her siblings' education. To get to Muong Xen town to practice with the team, Kieu had to rely on the teacher in charge of the team, Lo Van Bien, to take her.

“Every day because I love playing football, I often invite my friends to empty fields to practice. Sometimes when I watch TV and see players like Quang Hai perform, I also want to be like them. This is the first time I have competed so far away, but I hope that I will score at least 1 goal to make my parents and teachers at home proud,” Moong Van Kieu shared.

For coach Tran Van Hong, this is not the first time he has coached players from disadvantaged backgrounds. Like previous years, his house has started to welcome players from far away to eat, stay and practice. For him, witnessing the growth of generations of players from ethnic minorities in his district is a great achievement.

However, coach Tran Van Hong also sincerely shared: The biggest difficulty for the young players is the training conditions. Because in Ky Son district, the field is mainly dirt, while the tournament is played on indoor fields with wooden floors, so it is very difficult for the players to adapt. This is the weakness of the Ky Son players, so the coaching staff only aims to contribute good matches and beautiful moves to exchange and learn in order to help the players continue with their passion for football and improve the sports movement in the district.

With such determination, although there are still many difficulties ahead, hopefully in the remaining days of preparation for the tournament, the Ky Son children's football team can make a miracle to achieve the set goal.