25th Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament: Nam Dan Children determined to go deep into the tournament

Among the districts, cities and towns of the province, Nam Dan is the locality with a tradition of living inYouth - Children Football Tournament - Nghe An Newspaper Cup, participated in all 22 seasons, in which he won many achievements: 5 style awards, 8 third prizes and especially the championship in 2014.

For most fans inside and outside the district, the 2014 championship of Nhi Dong Nam Dan was a pleasant surprise because that year the team from Uncle Ho's hometown did not have many outstanding players in the squad. However, with the brilliance of "child star" Dinh Xuan Tien, Nhi Dong Nam Dan overcame many strong opponents such as Yen Thanh and Do Luong to lift the championship trophy.

Teachers and students of the Nam Dan District Children's Football Team are preparing to participate in the 2023 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children's Football Tournament. Photo: Minh Quan

As for Dinh Xuan Tien personally, after this tournament, he was selected by Song Lam Nghe An Club and after 9 years, he has made steady progress in his career such as being promoted to SLNA's first team to compete in V.League, being called up to the National youth teams (most recently the National U22 team participating in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia...).

However, since then, after 6 seasons, despite giving fans a beautiful playing style, the best achievement of the Bac Ninh children's football team is reaching the quarterfinals. In last season (2022), Nam Dan Children's Football Team regretfully lost to Hoang Mai Town Children's Football Team.

Players warm up before practice under the supervision of Coach Tran Dinh Viet and watched by parents. Photo: Minh Quan

Entering this year's season, although many cultural and sports activities have taken place in the district since the beginning of April within the framework of the 2023 Sen Village Festival, the preparation of forces to participate in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children's Football Tournament is still carefully considered by the Nam Dan culture - sports sector.

This year, with the determination to invest resources to achieve better results than previous seasons, Nam Dan only has a Children's football team participating in the tournament. This is a team selected from the gifted class organized by SLNA Club in the district.

The exercises are carefully prepared to improve the players' physical strength and technique. Photo: Minh Quan

According to Mr. Tran Dinh Viet - an officer of the Center for Culture - Sports and Communication of Nam Dan district, the coach of the team said: "The Nam Dan Children's Team is preparing for the Youth - Children's Football Tournament - Nghe An Newspaper Cup, including 18 athletes, and has started training for nearly 2 months now. Before the end of the school year, the team only practiced on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Now that the schools have entered the summer vacation, the team has added one more session on Wednesday, and a week before the tournament, the training volume will be increased, expected to be on all days of the week."

According to Coach Tran Dinh Viet, in the past 2 years, the selection of players for the Children's Football Team to participate in the Bao Cup has been quite favorable. First of all, Nam Dan is the only district in the province with a system of artificial turf fields covering all localities, including many fields designed according to mini standards, suitable for children's players to practice and compete.

Nam Dan Children's Football Players practice dribbling and passing the ball. Photo: Minh Quan

Along with that, from the 2021-2022 school year, the district's Department of Education and Training regularly organizes primary and secondary school football tournaments in school clusters or friendly matches between schools, so the football movement among children develops strongly, creating favorable conditions for district scouts to select talented young players for gifted football classes.

Therefore, if in previous seasons, the players were mainly concentrated in Nam Dan town and neighboring communes, this year they are evenly distributed in many communes in the district, including communes far from the district center such as: Nam Hung, Nam Cat, Trung Phuc Cuong...

Live ball shooting practice of Nam Dan Children's players. Photo: Minh Quan

“Another advantage of the Nam Dan Children’s Team this year is that the level of the players is relatively even, most of them have good basic techniques. In addition, the team still has 5 players who participated in the district’s children’s football team that participated in the tournament last year, so they can pass on their experience and confidence to the players who are participating in the tournament for the first time.

However, it is quite regrettable that the team still does not have the best possible force, because 5-6 outstanding players will not be able to participate in the tournament. The reason is that these are all excellent students, who will participate in the entrance exam to Dang Chanh Ky Secondary School - a key school of the district right on the days of the tournament", Coach Tran Dinh Viet shared.

In addition to regular practice on the artificial football field of the district's Culture - Sports and Communication Center, before entering the tournament, the Nam Dan Children's Football Team will have friendly matches with teams from Hung Nguyen, Thanh Chuong, Nghi Loc districts and Cua Lo town.

Nam Dan Children's Team players (blue shirts) in a friendly match. Photo: Minh Quan

The desire to prove themselves and the determination to go further in the tournament are clearly visible in the young players of Uncle Ho's hometown. Player Nguyen Van Nhat Long confided: "I participated in the tournament last year and was a starter in all the matches. Although the team did not make it past the quarterfinals, my teammates and I had a very happy and meaningful summer. This year, my teammates and I will try harder in the upcoming matches to be worthy juniors of player Dinh Xuan Tien, and from there be selected to join the Song Lam Nghe An training center."