Two football teams of Hung Nguyen district aim to achieve the highest results at the Nghe An Newspaper Cup.

"Sitting in the sand for gold"

At 3:00 p.m. on May 22, more than 50 young players from communes and towns of Hung Nguyen district gathered at the artificial turf field in the district town to participate in training and competition. The players came here with the hope of being selected by coaches and football experts to join the Hung Nguyen district youth football team to participate in the upcoming 2024 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament. Accompanying the children were their parents and grandparents. All parents attentively watched every move, ball path and skill of their children on the field.

It is known that this is the first training session organized with the participation of all the young football talents of the district. Among them, there are players who have been training for a few years at community football centers in the area; there are "village school" players who were introduced to the team by teachers; there are players from the field football fields who were discovered by experts...

During the training session, the young players tried their best to show their technical qualities. On the field, the coaches carefully observed, instructed and recorded in their memory the good players, suitable to be selected to join the district team.

During this training session, there were 2 barefoot young players who impressed with their agility and dexterity and were considered a new discovery. These 2 players came from Hung Yen Bac commune – the hometown of national football player Nguyen Dinh Bac.

Mr. Vo Van Phuong - Deputy Director of the Center for Culture, Sports and Communication, and coach of the Hung Nguyen district youth team said: In 2015, in preparation for the 19th Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children Football Tournament, I went to the commune clusters of Hung Yen Bac, Hung Yen Nam and Hung Trung to organize some training sessions here to find talents to join the district team. Through that, I selected 3 players to participate in the Newspaper Cup, Nguyen Dinh Bac was one of them.

In the 19th Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament in 2015, the Hung Nguyen District Children's Football Team with the participation of Nguyen Dinh Bac played very well and won the runner-up position. After the tournament, a series of players from this team were selected and trained by Song Lam Nghe An Club. Up to now, 3 players in the runner-up children's team that year have become professional football players playing in the V-League and the First Division Football Tournament.

Mr. Vo Van Phuong shared: From the past until now, Hung Nguyen has been famous as the hometown of many famous football strategists and "architects" such as Nguyen Thanh Vinh, Ho Van Chiem; and many famous players such as Pham Van Quyen, Ho Thanh Thuong, Au Van Hoan, Tran Dinh Hoang, Ho Khac Ngoc, Ho Tuan Tai, Nguyen Dinh Bac. Among these famous players, many were "discovered" from the Bao Cup... Hopefully this year, we will be able to find, nurture, and introduce more new talents to the province's football and Vietnamese football.

Try every match

Participating in the 2024 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children Football Tournament, Hung Nguyen District will send 2 teams to participate in both age groups. In preparation for the tournament, at this time, Hung Nguyen District is organizing the selection and search for talents. The selection of players for the official squad to participate in the Newspaper Cup will be completed on May 25. Next, according to the plan, both teams will enter a training session focusing on both physical strength, technique and tactics. The coaches will also look for opponents to compete, compete, increase the "real combat" ability and competitive spirit of the young players...

According to the leader of the Center for Culture, Sports and Communication of Hung Nguyen district: The district's sending of 2 football teams to participate in the Youth - Children's Football Tournament of Nghe An Newspaper Cup has clearly demonstrated the efforts, attempts and spirit for children of the leaders of the district Party Committee, People's Committee and the Department of Culture and Sports of Hung Nguyen district as well as the passionate love for youth football of the people here. Not letting down the trust, the unit will try to help the children participate in this useful playground with a comfortable spirit, helping them develop physically and mentally during the summer. The 2 football teams will also strive to practice and compete well; try their best in each match with the hope of achieving the highest results.

During 25 years of participating in the Youth and Children Football Tournament of Nghe An Newspaper Cup, the achievements of Hung Nguyen district youth football teams were quite modest. The highest achievement of Hung Nguyen youth football teams was 3 times winning Silver Medals and 1 time winning Bronze Medal.

The young players of Hung Nguyen district are very talented. However, in the Youth and Children Football Tournament of Nghe An Newspaper Cup, there are many other strong teams and talented players. There were times when the Hung Nguyen district team played on par with the youth team of Song Lam Nghe An Football Club in friendly matches. However, when entering the tournament, psychological factors and bad luck caused the youth football of this locality to "miss the appointment" with the gold cup.

There is not much time left to prepare for the 2024 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children Football Tournament. Teachers and students of the two Youth and Children's Football teams of Hung Nguyen district have been working day and night in the sun and wind on the training grounds, practicing physical exercises, techniques and tactics. Mr. Vo Van Phuong said: We try to help the children see their strengths and weaknesses, learn lessons, and thereby overcome and improve; help them have the spirit that when they are on the field, they must compete with all their might for the honor of the flag and the color of the shirt.