Quang Hai's tears and the laughter of Vietnamese fans

On the afternoon of December 5, U22 Vietnam faced U22 Thailand in a match within the framework of the 30th SEA Games. The 2-2 draw was enough to help coach Park Hang-seo and his team win a ticket to the semi-finals. But what remained after this match was Quang Hai's tears.

In the match against U22 Thailand, Quang Hai could not play even though he was still registered for the match. However, a torn muscle injury officially took away Quang Hai's chance to go to the final match of SEA Games 30.

Seeing his teammates being led by 2 goals by Thailand, Quang Hai sat on the bench with an emotion that was hard to put into words. It was certainly not a fear of being eliminated by the Thais. It was like a way for Quang Hai to relieve his feelings.

Quang Hai is overloaded because he has been playing continuously all year. Photo: Hai Hoang

From the beginning of 2019 to the present, Quang Hai is the player who has played the most matches in Vietnam, having played 60 times in all colors and fronts from the Vietnam national team, U23... to the club. The number 60 is also the number of matches he played in 2018. In the past two years, Quang Hai played 120 matches.

More specifically, this midfielder played 24/26 matches in V.League 2019, 13 matches in AFC Cup, 2 matches in AFC Champions League qualifying round, 3 matches in National Cup, in Hanoi Club shirt. At the national team level, with 5 matches in Asian Cup, 2 matches in King's Cup 2019, 5 matches in Asian qualifying round and most recently 3 matches in SEA Games 2019.

The U22 Vietnam team came to the SEA Games campaign with careful preparation, talented and eager young players. But if Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia do not rely too much on U22+ players, the Vietnam team put all their efforts into bringing to the Philippines players Trong Hoang, Hung Dung, Quang Hai, Van Hau...

Quang Hai sadly on the bench in the match against U22 Thailand. Photo: Hai Hoang

The pressure to win the SEA Games is like a historical debt placed on the shoulders of coach Park Hang-seo and the boys who have fought and worked hard without a word of complaint for the past 2 years with extraordinary achievements reaching the continental level and gradually swimming out to the ocean.

There will be opinions that the SEA Games gold medal is nothing compared to the AFF Cup 2018 championship, the Asian Games four-team tournament, being among the top 8 teams in the Asian Cup 2019 or most recently the 94th position on the FIFA rankings. However, Quang Hai and his teammates understand that they still have to fight for the expectations of the fans.

Coach Park Hang-seo has breathed the air of the World Cup and lived in an advanced football country like Korea, but he himself had to admit that the SEA Games is a fierce tournament with a dense competition schedule.

As for domestic football experts, when seeing Quang Hai in pain on the field, they said that this is no different from a tournament that tortures players. Mr. Vu Manh Hai said: "Competing with high frequency and small number of players: SEA Games 30 football is destroying the spirit of true sportsmanship!"

Captain Quang Hai shed tears at the end of the first half of the match against U22 Thailand.

And it is because of this that a player who participated in the SEA Games twice like Trong Hoang 8-10 years ago returned to the youth field as a rare thing in football. Of course, Trong Hoang and Hung Dung are indispensable factors in the calculation of coach Park Hang-seo. But the fact that they are playing alongside their U22 juniors reflects a burden on the shoulders of this generation of players.

As for Quang Hai, before Phan Van Duc got injured, Quang Hai was the focal point and also the main explosive of the Vietnam National Team. The midfielder of Hanoi Club was given priority to receive the ball and shoot, even though he played in the right position.

But then, when SLNA players were absent and Anh Duc retired, Quang Hai's role in the national team suddenly became more important. Opponents gradually paid more attention to Quang Hai and were no longer surprised by the way Vietnamese teams played.

The captain of U22 Vietnam is no longer free to advance and break straight into the opponent's goal, but now, people see Quang Hai having to drop deep to organize, compete, and create passes for his teammates.

Quang Hai once cried because he lost in the final match of the 2018 U23 Asian Cup and then also suppressed his grief because his grandfather passed away while competing in the 2019 King's Cup. Photo: Tuan Huu

Of course, Quang Hai's injury will greatly affect Coach Park Hang-seo's plans for the semi-final and final matches immediately after. However, this could be a turning point that will bring other breakthrough factors to U22 Vietnam, such as Hoang Duc.

Injury came to Quang Hai as an inevitable, a small rubber band was constantly stretched and broken. In misfortune there is still luck, luckily Quang Hai's injury was only a torn thigh muscle, needing 2 weeks to recover and not multiple injuries.

As for the fans, there is no limit to the satisfaction and laughter when U22 Vietnam turns the tables and wins. However, the limit of criticism and humiliation is simply from a mistake by the goalkeeper or a shot that goes wide.

Now we understand why boss Do Quang Hien has never given Quang Hai the green light to play abroad, even though it is good for him and for the ambition of Vietnamese football to reach out to the big sea.

There is a 'steel rose' from Nghe An in the midfield of the Vietnamese women's team

(Baonghean.vn) - Recently at the 30th SEA Games, the Vietnamese women's team defeated the host Philippines to face Thailand in the final. The one who opened the scoring for coach Mai Duc Chung and his team in the semi-final was Thai Thi Thao - a girl from Nghe An.