Nguyen Dinh Bao - New hope of Nghe An football

(Baonghean) -With a modern playing style, from ball handling techniques to finishing, Dinh Bao has become a dangerous "killer" on the attack line, scoring many decisive goals to help SLNA youth teams reach the pinnacle of glory. Dinh Bao is expected to shine in the SLNA first team and the national teams.

Not yet 10 years old, Bao was known to the people of Cho Con (Thanh Chuong) for his football talent. After each school day, little Nguyen Dinh Bao was engrossed in playing with his friends with the round ball. “Many times, when I was so busy playing, my father whipped me with a few painful rattan canes while the buffalo was eating rice” – Bao laughed as he told us about the years he played football on the Lam River dike.
At the age of 13, Bao was selected to join the Thanh Chuong football team to participate in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament. Although the team had to stop in the qualifying round, with his technical ball handling and skillful finishing, Dinh Bao "caught the eye" of the SLNA youth coaches and was recruited directly into the SLNA training "furnace". "That is a memory that I can never forget, that year in the whole district, only I was selected to enter the SLNA "furnace" - Bao recalled.

Dinh Bao was voted the best player of the match at the 2012 Thanh Nien Newspaper International U21 Tournament.

Entering SLNA, Dinh Bao chose Cong Vinh as his idol, as a role model to strive for. He imitated Cong Vinh from his gait, the way he spread his arms to celebrate a goal to the way he played football, with the hope of soon wearing the national team jersey like Vinh. Practicing hard and eager to learn, Bao always received attention and guidance from the coaches and seniors at SLNA Club, from dribbling techniques to running and finishing.

In 2007, at the age of 16, Dinh Bao shone and stepped onto the podium of glory when he and U17 SLNA won the national championship. In 2008, at the National U17 Finals, in the role of striker, Dinh Bao scored a hat-trick twice, scoring 8 goals, helping U17 SLNA successfully defend the title, while he himself won two titles: Best Player of the Tournament and Top Scorer. With perfect individual technique, good ball feel, sharp tactical vision, and an aggressive playing style, Dinh Bao was continuously called up to the national U19 and U21 teams to participate in international tournaments.

In the 2012 season, Dinh Bao was promoted by the club to Hanoi Youth to play in the First Division. In this tournament, despite having to compete with foreign players, Dinh Bao still found a starting position and scored 6 goals for Hanoi Youth, and was called back by coach Dinh Van Dung to join the U21 SLNA squad to participate in the 2012 National U21 Tournament. In the second match of the group stage against the host Ninh Thuan, when U21 SLNA played deadlocked, it was not until the 54th minute that coach Dinh Van Dung decided to send Dinh Bao onto the field. Only 6 minutes later, with a rather tricky cross-angle shot, Bao opened the score of the match. Not stopping there, Dinh Bao himself was the author of the second goal for U21 SLNA after a solo performance past a series of defenders and then fired a tight-angle shot that defeated the goalkeeper of Ninh Thuan team. In the final match, in the 2nd minute, Dinh Bao quickly ran down the middle and accurately shot from a distance of more than 10m to open the score for SLNA, then continuously had skillful moves that disturbed the opponent's defense, helping U21 SLNA win 2-0 to step up to the championship for the 4th time after 10 years of waiting. With that excellence, Dinh Bao continued to be selected for the U21 Vietnam team to participate in the 2012 Thanh Nien Newspaper International Open Tournament. At this tournament, Dinh Bao once again shone with 6 goals and became the top scorer. In the match against U21 Singapore alone, Dinh Bao scored 4 goals. Then in the match against U21 Thailand, Dinh Bao stunned the audience with a goal with a powerful instep kick that made the opposing team's goalkeeper stand still watching the ball fly into the net. After the match, fans were still talking about the beautiful goals thanks to Dinh Bao's smart running and decisive finishing.

With that brilliance, this season, Coach Huu Thang decided to call Dinh Bao to join SLNA's first team with the hope that Dinh Bao will be a new factor to help SLNA overcome the crisis of force when a series of pillars are intending to leave SLNA Club. Despite high expectations, Dinh Bao is still modest: "To become a professional player, I still have to try hard, bro."

The opportunity has come, hopefully Nguyen Dinh Bao will conquer the new challenge to soon become a football star as he once dreamed.

Duc Chuyen