Golden Ball... still young

(Baonghean) - After a one-year hiatus, the Vietnamese Golden Ball award will return. It is expected to be presented in March. The Vietnamese Golden Ball is the first award given to the best football players in Vietnam. Over nearly 20 editions, the award has contributed to encouraging and motivating players and developing the country's football.

Cong Vinh (left) is a strong contender for the 20th Vietnamese Golden Ball award.

According to goalkeeper Duong Hong Son from Nghe An – the winner of the 2008 Golden Ball award – “The award is a great encouragement for me to love and appreciate my profession even more, and from there, to be more determined to aim for higher milestones. I think anyone who has ever had this honor feels the same way as me; it's truly joyful, happy, and proud…”. However, not every year the award goes smoothly, and the honored players are not always deserving and able to convince experts and fans alike. There are years when the national teams perform unsuccessfully. The stars of the national team, upon returning to their clubs, end up warming the bench, so the organizers of the award are unable to find a player truly worthy of this award. Therefore, in 2013, when Vietnamese football faced many scandals and poor results, the organizers decided to temporarily suspend the Golden Ball award voting.

This year, the voting for this award has been restarted. Players like Thanh Luong, Van Quyet (Hanoi T&T), Cong Vinh (Binh Duong), and Cong Phuong (HAGL)... are considered candidates for the Vietnamese Golden Ball. These players are all key figures for their respective clubs, but unfortunately, none of those teams won the V.League in 2014, and the Vietnamese national team was eliminated in the semi-finals of the AFF Cup. Therefore, these players haven't made a significant impression on fans and experts. For example, many believe Cong Vinh deserved the 2014 Golden Ball for his contributions to SLNA and the national team, but in the 2015 season, he has only started one match! Similarly, in 2014, Cong Phuong only performed in friendly tournaments for the U19 age group and had not yet contributed anything to the HAGL first team.

Therefore, many believe that whoever receives the 2014 Golden Ball award will be... still too young. It's a pity that such a prestigious award in Vietnamese football, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, has to be... prematurely awarded!

Duc Dung