Captain of U15 Song Lam Nghe An: Becoming a player 'to avoid looking after younger siblings'

Tiếc nuối

Tại Giải U15 Quốc gia 2024, U15 Sông Lam Nghệ An được xem là một trong những ứng cử viên cho chức vô địch. Bởi trong đội hình của đội bóng xứ Nghệ sở hữu khá nhiều nhân tố nổi bật. Có thể kể đến như trung vệ Trần Văn Hải, Quán Thành Công; hậu vệ Ngô Anh Đức, tiền vệ Nguyễn Minh Thủy, Phan Văn Tài... Dẫu vậy, U15 Sông Lam Nghệ An đã không gặp may mắn và phải dừng lại ở vòng tứ kết.

Dù không giành được mục tiêu đã đề ra, nhưng có thể nhận thấy trong tập thể đội U15 Sông Lam Nghệ An có rất nhiều cầu thủ đầy tiềm năng. Trong số đó, không thể không nhắc đến đội trưởng Nguyễn Minh Thủy.

Participating in the 2024 National U15 Tournament, Minh Thuy was arranged by coach Nguyen Van Tien to play in the center of midfield. This is the position of the player from Dien Chau. The highlight in Minh Thuy's playing style is her tactical vision, ability to keep the rhythm of the match, bold breakthroughs, and powerful kicks.

The match that left the most regrets for U15 Song Lam Nghe An was the quarter-final match of the tournament. And this was also the match where Minh Thuy played explosively with 1 goal and 1 assist. Specifically, in the 35th minute, after a pass from Van Lam, Minh Thuy fired a tricky, technical shot to defeat the Viettel goalkeeper, helping Song Lam Nghe An tie 1-1.

The goal that raised the score to 2-1 for Song Lam Nghe An also had a strong imprint of Minh Thuy, when the captain wearing the number 8 shirt made a technical move, forcing a Viettel defender to commit a foul in the penalty area, thereby bringing a penalty kick to Song Lam Nghe An.

However, luck did not smile on coach Nguyen Van Tien's team because in the extra minute of the match, Viettel scored an equalizer to bring the match to a penalty shootout. On the penalty spot, U15 Song Lam Nghe An was unlucky and had to stop at the quarter-finals.

Sharing her feelings after the tournament, Minh Thuy said: "This is a tournament in which U15 Song Lam Nghe An played quite impressively, with many convincing victories. However, U15 Song Lam Nghe An had to stop in the quarterfinals due to bad luck. Partly due to the influence of storm No. 3. Due to the storm, the tournament organizers pushed the match time earlier. That caused the Song Lam Nghe An players to have to travel from 12 noon, affecting the biological rhythm and health of the athletes. This is the reason why at the end of the quarterfinal match, we lost our physical strength and could no longer control the game as before. It can be said that this tournament brought me great regret."

Although she did not help her team advance, Minh Thuy's performance is still worth noting. In addition to the goal scored in the quarter-final match, Minh Thuy also scored 3 more times at the 2024 National U15 Tournament. If this player maintains seriousness in training and living, he will have many opportunities to develop his career in the future.

Important turning point

Before starting football, Minh Thuy was an excellent student at Dien An Primary School, Dien Chau District. During her 5 years in primary school, Minh Thuy was always an outstanding student of the school and received many certificates of merit and praise from teachers.

Since childhood, Minh Thuy never thought of pursuing a career in football, but only thought of studying well to get into university. The summer of 2020 was an important milestone in Minh Thuy's life. The story was told by Minh Thuy's father: "Near Thuy's house, there was an older brother named Cao Hoang Dat who was accepted into the Song Lam Nghe An youth football training center. Back then, every afternoon after school, Thuy had to look after her younger brother to help her parents. The uncles in the village joked that Thuy practiced football with her brother Dat, because staying at home to look after her younger brother was tiring. And from then on, to avoid looking after her younger brother, Thuy put on her shoes and went to practice football with the children in the village."

With innate talent, Minh Thuy learned to play football quite quickly and gradually became more outstanding than her peers. After the inter-commune tournament, Thuy was selected by Dien Chau district to participate in the tournament organized by Song Lam Nghe An. It was from here that Minh Thuy's career path turned a new page.

"It must be said that Minh Thuy's life up to now has been following the natural course. Coming to football was also very surprising, joining the Song Lam Nghe An training center to pursue a career in shorts and jerseys was even more surprising. And my family has always supported her to develop naturally. Whatever is her strength and specialty, let her pursue it. I just hope she will always strive on the path she has chosen," Minh Thuy's father recounted.

Minh Thuy is currently a player of the Song Lam Nghe An Youth Football Training Center. During her training and competition at the Center, Minh Thuy has achieved many notable achievements such as: National U11 Championship 2020, National U13 Championship 2022; Silver Medal National U15 Championship 2023 (at that time Minh Thuy was only 14 years old). However, these are only initial small successes and Minh Thuy needs to make more efforts to become the hope of Nghe An football in the future.