'Dream Team' grew up from the Youth-Individual Football Tournament, Nghe An Newspaper Cup

(Baonghean.vn) - Looking back at the journey of the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament over the past 20 years, many talents of Nghe An football have been discovered and grown up from this tournament. Not only are they idols at the club, they are also big stars of the country's football. Nghe An Newspaper would like to review some players who have grown up from the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament.

Goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh

Goalkeeper - SLNA Captain Tran Nguyen Manh. Photo: Duc Dung

The current captain of SLNA Club was one of the outstanding players of Do Luong Children's Football Club in 2001 and 2002. Although he started out as a striker, Nguyen Manh has shown all the qualities of an excellent goalkeeper.

With excellent reflexes, especially in penalty-saving situations, Nguyen Manh has won many titles in youth tournaments such as U15, U17, U19 and U21 with SLNA. Being promoted to SLNA's first team since 2011, in recent years he has been the number 1 choice in the goal of the Vietnam National Team.

Defender Tran Dinh Dong

Tran Dinh Dong. Photo: Internet

Among the famous defenders who have played in the Youth and Youth Cup of Bao Nghe, we cannot fail to mention Tran Dinh Dong. Joining the SLNA first team since 2008, the player born in 1987 from Anh Son was expected to replace his senior Nguyen Huy Hoang as the captain of the Nghe An team's defense. Currently, Dinh Dong is a mainstay in the defense of FLC Thanh Hoa Club and has contributed significantly to helping the Thanh team gain an advantage in the 2017 V.League championship race.

Center back Nguyen Minh Duc

Center back Minh Duc and his junior Cong Phuong in the match between SLNA and HAGL at Vinh stadium. Photo: Duc Dung

Nguyen Minh Duc is one of the most comprehensive and successful players of SLNA at the present time. Since wearing the captain's armband of the Vietnam U16 team, creating a shock at the 2000 AFC U16 Championship in Da Nang, the central defender born in 1983 has shown the excellent qualities of a leading central defender of Vietnamese football with a thoughtful and effective playing style.

This former national team captain is the oldest player of the Nghe An team and is still very energetic in the V.League. And what is more special, statistics show that he is the defender who has received the fewest penalty cards in Vietnamese football over the past decades.

Center back Hoang Van Khanh

Center back Hoang Van Khanh. Photo: Duc Dung

Hoang Van Khanh participated in the Youth Football Tournament - Nghe An Newspaper Cup in 2007, 2008 and won the championship with Tan Ky Children's Football Team in the first year of participation. Currently, he has played 4 seasons in V.League and has become the most potential central defender at SLNA at the moment. Good height, judgment ability and calm playing style inherited from his senior Minh Duc have helped Hoang Van Khanh improve visibly. The national player born in 1995 of SLNA is expected to help U23 Vietnam conquer the 29th SEA Games taking place at the end of this year.

Defender Que Ngoc Hai

Que Ngoc Hai participated in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup in Vinh City's jersey in 2004. He first played in V.League 2013, but since then, the central defender born in 1993 has shown remarkable progress at both club and national team levels. The captain of U23 Vietnam has a good height, a fiery playing style and is not afraid of collision. In particular, this player also shows his versatility when he can play well in the positions of central defender, central midfielder and right-back. Currently, he is the number 1 choice of coach Nguyen Huu Thang for the central defender position in the national team.

Midfielder Nguyen Trong Hoang

Midfielder Trong Hoang when he was the captain of SLNA - Photo: Duc Dung

Nguyen Trong Hoang is a player that foreign coaches like Calisto and Toshiya Miura especially love for his physical playing style. After joining the SLNA youth academy, the former player of Vinh City Children's Football Club was promoted to play in the V.League when he was not yet 18 years old (V.League 2007) in the context of the Nghe An team facing the departure of key players. Among the players who grew up from the Nghe An Newspaper Cup, he is the player who won many V.League championships with SLNA (2011), B. Binh Duong (2014, 2015).

Midfielder Hoang Van Binh

Midfielder Hoang Van Binh. Photo: Duc Dung

Although he has not had a chance to play for the national team, Hoang Van Binh is considered the most creative and effective domestic midfielder in the V.League at the moment. Joining SLNA thanks to his impressive performance in the Quynh Luu District Youth and Children's Football Team, Van Binh quickly made a name for himself along with teammates like Au Van Hoan and Trong Hoang. The player has an intelligent playing style, comprehensive offense and defense, and 9 years of experience playing in the V.League, combined with Trong Hoang, is the key to helping coach Petrovic maximize the strength of FLC Thanh Hoa in the V.League 2017.

Midfielder Ho Khac Ngoc

While playing for Vinh City Children's Team, Ho Khac Ngoc soon revealed his talent by scoring 22 goals throughout the tournament and winning the title of best player of the Youth-Number League Cup Nghe An Newspaper in 2002. The only weakness of this attacking midfielder is his ability to defend from afar. On the contrary, he has extremely delicate and highly accurate through balls and long passes. Ho Khac Ngoc and Hoang Van Binh are a great combination of attack and defense. In the first leg of V.League 2017, Ho Khac Ngoc played quite impressively in the role of playmaker for SLNA.

Winger Le Cong Vinh

Player Le Cong Vinh. Photo: Duc Dung

With a squad of 4 midfielders, no one can play the left midfielder position better than Le Cong Vinh, the best striker in the history of Vietnamese football. The player from Quynh Luu is not only a star of SLNA, but also a star of the national team through many periods, especially since helping the Vietnamese team win the AFF Cup 2008 with a historic header. Not only has he perfected his technique, tactics and playing mindset thanks to hard training and accumulation through playing in Portugal and Japan, Le Cong Vinh is also very successful in his role as a football manager.

Forward Pham Van Quyen

Pham Van Quyen is the idol of many Vietnamese football fans. Photo: Trung Kien

In the same generation as Nguyen Minh Duc who made waves at the 2000 AFC U16 Championship, Van Quyen is a name that Vietnamese football fans pay special attention to. He grew up thanks to his innate talent that was shown early in the Hung Nguyen Children's team and when he played for the national team, he was the only Vietnamese player to be called a "football prodigy" by foreign coaches. Unfortunately, Van Quyen's career encountered many changes due to the negative aspects of football, otherwise his talent could have reached the continental level.

Striker Nguyen Cong Phuong

Although he is not yet perfect if he is assigned to play as a center forward, Cong Phuong's talent is undeniable. The young striker born in 1995 from Do Luong is the one expected to follow in the footsteps of Le Cong Vinh or Van Quyen to become big stars of Vietnamese football. The HAGL player is currently the hope in the attack of coach Nguyen Huu Thang in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers and the SEA Games taking place this year. After 13 matches in V.League 2017, he has scored 4 goals for HAGL. That does not say everything about the true talent of this striker.

Trung Kien