Dung 'Thanh Hoa' and his fate with Nghe An football

(Baonghean) - At SLNA, the name Dung "Thanh Hoa" has become very familiar. Born in Thanh, established in Nghe An and having a passion for football, Dinh Van Dung became a teacher of many generations of students from Nghe An. Not only that, in the role of assistant and then head coach of the national youth teams, Dinh Van Dung also made many impressions.

In the U.19 Vietnam squad that just won the right to attend the recent World Cup, there was no player from the Song Lam "furnace". Fortunately, on the coaching bench, Dinh Van Dung has salvaged some prestige for the Nghe An youth training "furnace", as an effective assistant, helping coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his students create miracles.

Dinh Van Dung (far right) in the coaching staff of U.19 Vietnam. Photo: Internet

In fact, Dinh Van Dung used to be the head coach of U.21 and U.22 Vietnam in many tournaments. At this time, when he is old, Dinh Van Dung proactively handed over the responsibility to the younger generation. However, in the role of assistant, Dung "Thanh Hoa" still gave positive suggestions to Hoang Anh Tuan to help U.19 Vietnam fly high. After the tournament, although he needed to rest, Dinh Van Dung still tried to go with the members of the U.19 coaching staff to visit and give gifts to people in the flood-hit areas of Quang Binh.

In a year when Nghe An youth football did not have many highlights, Dinh Van Dung's presence in the U.19 Vietnam squad and his positive contributions helped motivate the entire Song Lam team to continue their efforts and be confident in the future. Although he did not play the role of a hero, his outstanding activities in 2016 once again contributed to creating the Dung "Thanh Hoa" brand that was already known to many people.

Coach Dinh Van Dung was born in 1959 in Thanh Hoa City, Thanh Hoa Province. While still a high school student, Dinh Van Dung temporarily put his studies aside to join the army, fulfilling his dream of becoming a soldier of Uncle Ho. During his time stationed in Thanh Hoa, Dinh Van Dung's football talent was well known throughout the barracks. After that, Military Region 4 contacted to bring Dinh Van Dung to Nghe An to join the Military Region's football team. From 1979 to 1985, along with famous names of Military Region football at that time, Dinh Van Dung participated in many tournaments and continuously won glory with Military Region 4.

In 1985, after being established and winning the right to play in the national A1 tournament, Dinh Van Dung joined Song Lam Nghe Tinh to have more conditions to develop his talent. For more than 10 years with the Nghe team as a player, Dinh Van Dung accompanied the team on many trips to the South and the North to participate in domestic and regional tournaments. With a versatile playing style, Dinh Van Dung was always present in the main squad and was an irreplaceable factor of the Nghe team from 1985 to 1995.

Moving to coaching, Dinh Van Dung also left many marks. At that time, together with coach Nguyen Van Thinh, Dinh Van Dung was assigned to manage the youth class of the Song Lam "furnace" at that time with names such as Van Quyen, Nhu Thuat, Hong Son... In the role of coach of the youth teams, Dinh Van Dung and the Nghe An youth teams achieved many successes in the national tournament.

Dinh Van Dung next to his titles.

Dinh Van Dung's greatest mark must be his extremely "cool hand" with the U.21 team. In addition to winning the national championship with U.21 SLNA in 2012 and 2014; Dinh Van Dung also made a big splash with U.21 Thanh Nien Vietnam Newspaper in international tournaments. Coach Dinh Van Dung participated 4 times as head coach, won the championship twice and the remaining times were runner-up. In addition to U.21, Coach Dinh Van Dung was also the head coach of U.16 and U.22 Vietnam.

In 2016, although he did not take on the responsibility at Song Lam (specifically U.21, when Nguyen Van Thinh was the head coach), in his role as assistant at U.19 Vietnam, Dinh Van Dung was the one who made the biggest mark in a year when Nghe An youth football was without a title. Coming from Thanh Hoa to Nghe An and having a chance to play football, Dinh Van Dung always cared about the development of local youth football. Although he was invited by many professional football teams to lead and held many different positions in national youth teams, coach Dinh Van Dung said that his biggest dream was still Nghe An, with the desire to turn Song Lam into a large-scale youth training center.

Vinh Liem