Nguyen Van Ba ​​- 'spider man' discovered from Nghe An Newspaper Cup

(Baonghean.vn) - In the history of the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament, Dien Chau is not as highly regarded as the "furnaces" Quynh Luu, Hung Nguyen, Do Luong or Vinh City. However, in recent years, this locality is where SLNA has gradually discovered young talents for itself. Among them is goalkeeper Nguyen Van Ba, the number 1 goalkeeper of the SLNA U17 team.

Nguyen Van Ba ​​answers press interviews. Photo: Trung Kien.

Like many other children, from the playgrounds at the village gate, the Youth Football Tournament - Nghe An Newspaper Cup in Dien Chau's colors in 2010 was the first big tournament that Nguyen Van Ba ​​participated in, and traveled far away. And through that tournament, Nguyen Van Ba ​​was noticed by SLNA scouts thanks to his ability to demonstrate the basic qualities of a goalkeeper.

In the championship of U13 SLNA in 2014, the mark of goalkeeper Nguyen Van Ba ​​was very big. Because to be present in the final match, U13 SLNA had to work very hard to overcome U13 Viettel thanks to the 11m penalty shootout. While his teammates were successful in the first 4 shootouts, luck and courage helped goalkeeper Nguyen Van Ba ​​successfully block 2 shots from the opponent, thereby helping the home team enter the final match.

In the final match at Ha Dong Stadium (Hanoi), U13 SLNA proved their mettle as the defending champion of the tournament with an aggressive play against U13 Hai Duong. However, U13 SLNA unexpectedly fell behind in the first half and it was not until the 52nd minute that Ngo Van Luong headed in a close-range header to equalize for U13 SLNA. With the result of 1-1, the two teams entered a nerve-wracking penalty shootout.

Once again, Nguyen Van Ba's talent was put to the test. And not disappointing the expectations of the coaching staff, teammates and fans, Nguyen Van Ba's excellence helped U13 SLNA win 5-3 against U13 Hai Duong, successfully defending the championship title.

This was the fifth championship of SLNA youth training center at the national youth football tournament (1997, 1998, 2003, 2013 and 2014) and also a record of the tournament. With this title, Nguyen Van Ba ​​and his teammates were able to represent Vietnamese football to attend the tour to Japan at the end of 2014.

An aerial save by goalkeeper Nguyen Van Ba. Photo: Trung Kien

During that year's fruitful training trip, Coach Le Van Hung and his team made an impression in Japan with clear victories over Japanese youth teams such as Vivace Club and Azul Claro Numazu, and were highly appreciated by coaches in the land of the rising sun for their physique, technique, thinking and ethics.

Time flies, the generation of U13 SLNA players such as Nguyen Van Ba, Ho Khac Luong, Ngo Van Luong, Tran Quoc Thanh, Tran Manh Quynh are now the pillars of the U17 SLNA team preparing to enter the 2017 National U17 qualifying round. The boy Nguyen Van Ba ​​with his small, fast body, excellent judgment and reflexes, especially in situations of blocking Penalty, has also become the mainstay of the whole team in the upcoming tournament.

While coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team divided their teams into two teams to compete, Nguyen Van Ba ​​was suddenly "lifted" to the first team to practice in place of the injured Nguyen Manh, and of course with his basic skills, Ba played his role quite well, helping the second team of SLNA beat the first team of SLNA 3-1.

Nguyen Van Ba ​​shared that if there was no Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament, the opportunity for him to come to SLNA would have been very difficult, because at that time SLNA had not opened an amateur football training class in Dien Chau. His passion does not only come from himself, his love for football was nurtured by his father. His idol is none other than his brother Tran Nguyen Manh and his dream is to officially wear the SLNA first team shirt to compete in the V.League one day in the near future.

Trung Kien