Let's shoot, Nguyen Van Toan!

Nguyen Van Toan is one of the most impressive players of the Vietnam National Team in recent matches. The 1996-born striker's enthusiasm and aggressiveness in the right midfielder/forward position helps the red team's attack become more unpredictable, especially in quick counter-attacks. Whether Nguyen Van Toan is on the field or not makes a difference.

However, the factor that Nguyen Van Toan has not yet demonstrated as a top killer is to score goals. The HAGL player often misses good opportunities created by himself and his teammates. A typical example is the situation when he faced goalkeeper Tedsungnoen at the 18th second, in the match between the Thai team and the Vietnamese team (0-0), on September 5.

Nguyen Van Toan is going through a period of "silence" in the Vietnam National Team jersey. Photo: Archive

Therefore, up to this point in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Nguyen Van Toan has not scored any goals for the Vietnam National Team. The 23-year-old striker has also been "silent" at the 2018 AFF Cup and the 2019 Asian Cup. The last time Nguyen Van Toan "scored" was in the 1-1 draw between the Afghanistan National Team and the Vietnam National Team in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers (March 28, 2017).

That means, the striker from Hai Duong is going through a "goal drought" under coach Park Hang-seo. Nguyen Van Toan's finishing efficiency is not only inferior to his teammates playing on the attack line such as Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen Anh Duc, Nguyen Cong Phuong, Nguyen Tien Linh... but also inferior to central defender Que Ngoc Hai, the player who just scored against the Indonesian team.

Unlike in the national team, at HAGL, Nguyen Van Toan has always proven his qualities as a top "goal killer". In V.League 2019 alone, the striker from Hai Duong has scored 9 goals and provided 11 assists for the mountain town team. Unfortunately, that has not been achieved or, more precisely, has not been demonstrated by Nguyen Van Toan in his recent appearances for the national team.

The UAE Team's not-so-solid defense will help Toan "Tao" solve his "goal thirst". Photo: VFF

Most likely, in the match between the Vietnam National Team and the UAE National Team, taking place this afternoon, Toan “Tao” will continue to be named by Mr. Park in the starting lineup, taking on 1 of 3 positions in the home team’s attack. Experts and Vietnamese football fans are expecting that Nguyen Van Toan will solve the “goal thirst” that has lasted for more than 2 and a half years.

Facing a defense that is not highly rated in terms of speed and maneuverability in a narrow area of ​​the UAE Team, the opportunity to score for Nguyen Van Toan is not small. Hopefully, the player with the "silver hair" will shine brightly to bring goals, bringing victory to the Vietnam Team. "Shoot", Nguyen Van Toan!