Van Kien and SLNA's regret

(Baonghean) - Like Cong Phuong, although he really wanted to join and contribute to his hometown team, that dream did not come true. Van Kien left and became a "phenomenon" at the capital team. One success followed another, this player became a great regret for the Nghe An team.

Van Kien was born in Nghia Dan district. Kien was passionate about football from a young age and soon showed his talent. After making his mark in ward and commune football tournaments, Van Kien was recruited to the Song Lam youth training center. At that time, Kien was only 13 years old.

A player who has to leave home early and endures a lot of pressure can more or less affect his expertise. After training for a while at SLNA Club, Van Kien was eliminated by the scouts of Song Lam with the assessment that he had no ability to develop his talent. Unable to return with the reputation of being fired by Song Lam, Van Kien packed his backpack and went to Cua Lo, deciding to seek his luck at VSH youth training center, a youth training facility of Hanoi.T&T. At that time, Coach Nguyen Thanh Cong, son of veteran coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh, was the one who took over and had the next career orientation for Van Kien.

With the dedicated guidance of the teachers at VSH, Van Kien has improved more and more and was "recommended" by VSH to go to Hanoi to join the youth team of HN.T&T. The more he played, the more he proved himself, Van Kien had a starting position in the U.19 to U.21 team and then the First Division team for Hanoi Club. In 2016, Van Kien also took a starting position in the V.League at HN.T&T. Kien's development was called "lightning fast" by his teammates.

Van Kien was successful in the shirt of HN.T&T (now Hanoi Club).

Not stopping there, in the list of 23 U.22 Vietnam players named by coach Huu Thang to prepare for the friendly match with U20 Argentina, Tran Van Kien appeared for the first time. That can be considered a worthy reward after the tireless efforts and what this young defender born in 1996 has shown.

The dream came true for the poor boy of the past, but objectively speaking, with his form and maturity, Van Kien should have been called up to the national team a long time ago. That is not wrong, because in the 2016 season, the young defender from Nghia Dan started 22 matches, contributing greatly to the V.League championship of the capital team.

With stable performance and increasingly showing remarkable progress in terms of expertise, Van Kien seems to have no rival on the right wing of Hanoi FC. This 2017 season, although only half way through, the young defender wearing the number 13 shirt has started nearly 20 matches in both the V.League and AFC Cup.

In addition to the first team, when returning to the youth tournaments, Van Kien also became an indispensable pillar, making an important contribution to the National U21 Championship of Hanoi FC in 2016. That is the reason why after many missed appointments with the national team, the player from Nghe An was finally given the opportunity by coach Huu Thang when he was called up to the U.22 Vietnam team to prepare for a friendly match with U.20 Argentina. "The first time I was called up to the U.22 Vietnam team, I was really surprised and happy. However, there was also a bit of pressure and anxiety about how I would perform in the upcoming training session. I will try and make more efforts to be able to practice well and score points in the eyes of the teachers", Van Kien shared his feelings when he was named in the U.22 Vietnam team for the first time.

Seeing Van Kien succeed in the Ha Noi.T&T (now Ha Noi FC) jersey, football people in Nghe An must feel regretful. From the story of Cong Phuong to Van Kien, it shows that many talents are not destined to be with their homeland.

In addition to the objective reason that at that time, talents like Cong Phuong and Van Kien could not show much. But it also pointed out the shortcomings and sensitivity of Nghe An football people in the recruitment process. That is also the reason why many young talents from Nghe An now go straight to training centers like HA.GL or Ha Noi.T&T to directly seek opportunities./.

Vinh Liem