Vietnam U20 team without Nghe: SLNA's pain

(Baonghean.vn) – Vietnam playing in the World Cup, something that has never happened in history. At the time when coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team won tickets to the world tournament, SLNA did not have a single player present. It was not only a disappointment, but also a pain...

The beautiful time of Nghe An football and youth training from 2000-2001 suddenly passed by. Up to now, SLNA is still a team with a huge legacy of titles in youth tournaments.

Among them, the Youth (U13) group won 5 championship titles in 1997; 1998; 2003; 2013 and 2014. The U17 group won 7 times in 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007; 2008; 2009 and most recently in 2012. The U21 group holds the record for the number of times they lifted the cup in 1999; 2001; 2004; 2005 and 2006.

The current U19 and U21 players of SLNA are considered failures of SLNA in recent years and the future of SLNA is placed on the current U15 and U17 players of SLNA - Photo: Trung Kien.

At the age of U19, the stage when players are approaching the professional football environment, SLNA still "reigned" at the top of the table with 5 championships in 1999; 2001; 2004; 2005 and 2006. However, those are completely stories of the past when SLNA promoted the strengths of a locality with abundant talent and interest in football. In the context of other training centers not investing heavily.

In recent years, SLNA's "furnace" in domestic youth tournaments has not maintained its unique position, winning everywhere it plays like before. Each ticket to the finals has been considered a success by Nghe An fans. Until reaching the finals, being eliminated early by dirty teams like Viettel, PVF or Hanoi is no longer too surprising...

While the U19 Vietnam team is competing in the U19 Asian Cup, SLNA only has one player (not a starter). SLNA's current U19 and U20 players are the ones that SLNA is "deficient" in, having problems in selection and training. The most prominent player in this age group is midfielder Dang Van Lam who just failed in the 2016 U21 National Championship qualifying round.

At that difficult time, joining SLNA was no longer too difficult, it was the pride of a family, a village. Regarding the curriculum, training work was not focused on by SLNA. And of course, when the U20 Vietnam team was promoting the image of Vietnamese football to all five continents at the U20 World Cup taking place in Korea, the absence of SLNA was truly a pain. And of course, SLNA could not promote any face from the youth like the way of "harvesting young rice" in the past.

The unique position of a football foundation that existed for many years in a poor locality being defeated is clearly proof of the visible development of Vietnamese football.

Four years later, SLNA has just begun to rebuild with the current U15 and U17 players. The Viettel, Hanoi, PVF and HAGL training centers will also find it difficult to “steal” the rough gems that SLNA has targeted.

At present, U15 SLNA is the first team to win a ticket to the final round with the leadership of Coach Ngo Quang Truong - the person with the best qualifications at SLNA Club and is about to complete the Pro Coach course granted by AFC at the end of the year.

In his hands, the coach who led SLNA for 2 seasons in V.League has the best faces at SLNA academy at the moment. With half of the U13 SLNA players last season only lost to Viettel in the final match on Pentaly, we can mention midfielders like Dinh Xuan Tien and Nguyen Van Bach.

After winning the ticket to the final round with a perfect record in the qualifying round, scoring 21 goals in 6 matches and only conceding 1 goal, U15 SLNA has had serious preparation with friendly matches. One is the 2-4 loss to U17 Viettel and the 3-0 win against U17 SHB Da Nang.

As for U17 SLNA, with the core of the U13 players who won the national championship in 2014, the goal of coach Pham Bui Minh and his team is to overcome SHB Da Nang, Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh and Binh Dinh to win 1 of 2 direct tickets. That is not too difficult a task if looking at the current strength of U17 SLNA.

U17 SLNA is a generation of players expected to make history in national tournaments. Photo: Internet

SLNA is gradually improving its youth training and is starting to show positive signs despite the many difficulties in terms of facilities, playing fields, etc. However, this is a remarkable awakening. This will be further reinforced when, in the upcoming Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament, SLNA will select many good players to sign long-term training contracts.

Returning to the U20 Vietnam team, without any Nghe An players, SLNA fans will have to get used to watching the team play without Nghe An quality. Nghe Tinh students and workers in Korea are the most numerous, no wonder Vietnam plays in the world tournament but the stands still lack a bit of the enthusiasm and crowd from Nghe An football-loving fans.

Football must be associated with nurturing talent. The success of a football academy is how many professional players it has, how many players have the opportunity to contribute to the national team. It does not only come from the titles it has won in the past, that is just a recognition.

But anyway, after 3-4 years of living in a thirst for titles, SLNA will revive its strength and brand. Besides the common pride that the U20 Vietnam team is bringing to the fans of the country, the presence of SLNA players in the national team is the desire of the SLNA coaching staff and fans.

Quynh Trang