Nguyen Van Duc – Overcoming pain to shine

(Baonghean.vn) - Although unable to reach the final, U21 SLNA still introduced its talented faces to the audience. Central midfielder Nguyen Van Duc was among them.

Perhaps not many people know, Nguyen Van Duc came to the 2017 National U21 Finals with the pain of losing a loved one. This midfielder's father just passed away more than 2 months ago due to a serious illness.

This was a shock and a huge loss for the 19-year-old boy. With the effort to overcome adversity and the determination to repay the upbringing of his deceased father, Nguyen Van Duc held back his tears and pain to join U21 SLNA to conquer the U21 National Championship title.

Nguyen Van Duc in the U21 SLNA shirt. Photo: Internet

Arranged by coach Dinh Van Dung to play in the central midfield position next to his senior Bui Dinh Chau, the player nicknamed Duc “Ozil” has played quite impressively in the midfield of U21 SLNA. In the first two matches against U21 An Giang and U21 PVF, Nguyen Van Duc was one of the players who left the most impression on experts and fans. It is not without reason that journalist Quoc Viet, when commenting live on Youtube channel Sports 360, continuously gave compliments to the player wearing the number 11 shirt of U21 SLNA.

As a fan of German midfielder Mesut Ozil, it is not surprising that Nguyen Van Duc's playing style is quite similar to the star currently playing for Arsenal. That is why his teammates have nicknamed Nguyen Van Duc Duc "Ozil". Possessing excellent individual skills, the player born in 1998 is expected to be the future "conductor" of SLNA. Nguyen Van Duc's ball handling is often very smooth and delicate. With just a light footstep, the midfielder from Quynh Luu can eliminate the siege of 1-2 opposing players.

Nguyen Van Duc wiped away his tears and suppressed his grief to join U21 SLNA to conquer the U21 National Championship title.

In addition to his basic personal technical foundation, Nguyen Van Duc also possesses the sharp tactical vision required of a central midfielder. With his quick and wide observation ability, Nguyen Van Duc often launches dangerous cross-field passes or fixed free kicks to put his teammates in favorable situations in front of the opponent's goal. The precise corner kick that helped striker Pham Duc Thong score the equalizer in U21 SLNA's 2-1 victory over U21 PVF is a typical example.

Witnessing the excellent performances in the 3 matches against U21 An Giang, U21 Binh Duong and U21 PVF, everyone had to admit that Nguyen Van Duc is the “silent conductor” of U21 SLNA. Throughout the past matches, the player wearing the number 11 jersey has always played diligently in the midfield of the young Nghe An team.

Besides the job of recovering the ball and launching attacks, Nguyen Van Duc also showed his good ability to compete one-on-one. Thanks to that, U21 SLNA was not at all inferior to opponents with strong midfields such as U21 PVF, U21 Binh Duong and U21 Viettel.

At the age of 19, the future is wide open for Nguyen Van Duc. If he works hard to improve himself, the midfielder born in 1998 will go even further. It is very likely that in the next 1-2 years, Nghe An fans will witness Van Duc dominating the V.League arena in the SLNA shirt./.

Thanh Hung