Hoang Mai determined to 'go' to the final match of the 2022 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament

First time participating in 2 teams

As a locality with fewer times participating in the Youth - Children's Football Cup of Nghe An Newspaper than other districts and towns (started participating since the establishment of the town in 2013), however, in past seasons,Hoang Mai Townhas shown itself to be a brave team, making many opponents wary, especially the convincing championship of the children's age group in 2017, meaning that after 3 years of participating in the tournament, it has reached the pinnacle of glory, something that not every veteran team can achieve.

Young players of Hoang Mai Town practice enthusiastically before the tournament. Photo: Quang An

In reality, although the locality still has many difficulties in terms of facilities, the number of administrative units is small, the number of players that can be selected is not as abundant as other localities, however, Hoang Mai is one of the localities that has invested systematically and seriously in sports activities. And the Youth - Children Football Cup Nghe An Newspaper is a big playground that the locality aims to conquer.

With that determination, since receiving the information that this year the tournament will be held after 2 years of postponement due to the pandemic, the teachers and students of Hoang Mai football team have been practicing tirelessly. Every week, 3 sessions after school, the team gathers at Long Thanh artificial turf field in Quynh Di ward to practice together, improve their techniques and physical strength, and prepare to participate in the tournament. It is expected that when the students have summer vacation, the whole team will practice all week to enter the tournament with the highest spirit.

This is the first year Hoang Mai Town has sent two teams to participate in the tournament. Photo: Quang An

The special thing about this year's season is that for the first time, Hoang Mai Town will participate in 2 youth and children's football teams. In previous years, due to the conditions not being able to meet, Hoang Mai only participated in the children's team. This change promises to create a big surprise and the youthHoang Maiwill be an unpredictable "unknown", making opponents have to be cautious.

Mr. Ho Huu Tien - Coach of Hoang Mai Town Football Team said: "The Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament is a prestigious and branded tournament and is a place to nurture many talented players not only at SLNA Club but also for national football. Realizing that, this year, Hoang Mai Town is determined to bring 2 teams to compete, increasing the opportunity to conquer the tournament, while affirming the local sports spirit is always enthusiastic despite many difficulties."

Hoang Mai Children's Team convincingly won the championship in the 2017 season. Photo courtesy

According to Mr. Tien, this year most of the teams are very determined because this is a major tournament that has been taking place since the time when it had to be postponed due to the epidemic, sports activities were stalled, so every team is trying hard to practice to be able to win. For that reason, although striving to go to the final match, Hoang Mai will compete with the spirit of "knowing the enemy, knowing yourself", coming up with reasonable tactics against strong teams.

Use failure as motivation

Going back 2 years ago, in the 2019 season, Nhi dong Hoang Mai was considered a candidate for the championship when possessing a squad of players with equal physical and technical skills. Reality proved that when in the group stage, Nhi dong Hoang Mai crushed Nhi dong Anh Son 6-0 on the opening day, continued to win over Nhi dong Nghia Dan with the same score, and ended the group stage with the first place in the group after defeating Nhi dong Nghi Loc in the final round.

Hoang Mai players left the tournament regretfully 2 years ago. Photo: Quang An

It was thought that the "tornado" Hoang Mai would speed towards the finish line, however, in the quarter-finals, despite creating many opportunities, Hoang Mai could not penetrate the net of Nhi Dong Thai Hoa, forcing the match to be resolved on a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. And luck was not on the side of the Nghe An players, they left the tournament on a cruel penalty shootout, many Hoang Mai players burst into tears because they could not believe it was true.

Two years later, those young players are now the core of the youth team that will participate in this year’s tournament. The pain is still there, but has lessened somewhat. Now, they are stronger, more determined and ready to reclaim what they have lost.

Player Nguyen Hai Dang, Hoang Mai Youth team said: "We still regret the loss that year, however, it is also the motivation for us to rise up, determined to compete well in this year's tournament. The whole team has trained together for many years, understands each other and is ready to conquer the title in the tournament together."

Hoang Mai team has beautiful attacking football style, contributing in past seasons. Photo archive

For the Hoang Mai children's team this year, carefully selected, including many outstanding players, especially young player Nguyen Van Duy, Quynh Vinh commune, this is the number one hope of the team as he can play in many positions, has good personal technique, diverse finishing ability and fierce fighting spirit, is a spiritual support for his teammates.

In order to help the players gain more competition experience, in the coming time, the team's coaching staff will organize friendly matches before the tournament with localities such as Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Nghia Dan... Through each match, the coach will promptly detect tactical gaps as well as technical errors of each player, and will come up with solutions to overcome them.

With a talented squad of players and a serious training spirit, Hoang Mai is determined to create a surprise in this year's tournament, striving to reach the final match of the season./.