Nguyen Manh absent, SLNA introduces 'mysterious factor'

(Baonghean.vn) - Officially promoted to SLNA's first team in 2015, but it wasn't until the upcoming match against Dong Thap when Nguyen Manh was absent due to a penalty card that Le Van Hung had his first chance to start in the V.League.

Along with the generation of players born in 1992 such as Ngo Hoang Thinh, Tran Phi Son, Ho Khac Ngoc, Le Van Hung is still not well known at SLNA. The excellence of his senior Nguyen Manh has made this promising goalkeeper never shine.

Photo caption: Goalkeeper Le Van Hung (in black shirt) is ready to start his first match in V.League.

Born into a family with no one in the sports profession, Van Hung was accidentally selected by his teacher to join the school football team, then the Nghia Dan district team to participate in the TN - ND Nghe An Newspaper football tournament. The SLNA scouts had no difficulty recognizing the boy's goalkeeper qualities and Le Van Hung officially joined the SLNA academy when he was only 12 years old. That was also the time when this player's family was in turmoil because of the sudden passing of his father. But overcoming all, Le Van Hung proved himself worthy of the expectations of his mother, family and teachers.

Those who are interested in youth football must remember that Le Van Hung was the one who saved the 11m penalty in the 2007 U17 National Final against SHB Da Nang at Thong Nhat Stadium, helping the home team successfully defend the championship for the 4th consecutive time. Before being promoted to the first team, the goalkeeper from Nghia Dan made a significant contribution to the achievements of 3 silver medals in the U19 National Championship, 2 championships with U21 SLNA and 1 runner-up.

Le Van Hung (red shirt) practices with senior Nguyen Manh.

After more than 2 years of training at SLNA, it was only now that the opportunity came to Le Van Hung to fulfill his dream of standing in the SLNA goal to play in the V.League. Confiding in us, Le Van Hung shared: "Actually, my childhood dream was to become a police officer, not a goalkeeper. But now that the first opportunities have come, I will definitely try my best."

The position of goalkeeper always requires hard work and perseverance. At SLNA, Nguyen Manh’s shadow is too big and just one minute of discouragement, the dream will be left behind. The teachers who have guided Le Van Hung revealed that with a strong mentality, light body (63 kg) and good height, Hung’s career will certainly go far…

Trung Kien