Power from the 'rear'

(Baonghean) - In recent seasons of the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament, along with Do Luong, Quynh Luu and Thai Hoa Town, Dien Chau is a locality that regularly participates in both Youth and Children's age groups. The football teams of Phu Dien land always make a good impression in terms of expertise. This year, Dien Chau strives to have at least one team reach the finals.

TN Dien Chau players (red shirts) in the semi-final match against TN Nghi Loc in the 2015 season.

When asked about the achievements of Dien Chau football teams through the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children Football Tournament seasons, Deputy Director of the Dien Chau District Culture, Sports and Tourism Center, Dinh Van Hung said: Dien Chau has won the championship once. However, he "can't remember which age group and which year they won the championship, because it was so long ago". This shows that the achievements of Dien Chau football teams in the provincial football tournament are still modest.

However, Mr. Dinh Van Hung affirmed: “In the past ten years, Dien Chau football teams were not afraid and played equally when facing strong teams. However, when competing in a 2-round format (qualifying round in the cluster and final round), a disadvantage for Dien Chau football teams was that they were always in the same cluster with localities with very strong youth football movements such as Yen Thanh, Do Luong and Quynh Luu - strong candidates for the championship.

Therefore, there was a season when Dien Chau had no team reaching the final round. However, since 2013, when all the teams gathered to play a round in Vinh City, Dien Chau always participated in both age groups and Dien Chau teams often advanced to the later rounds.

Last season, both local teams reached the semi-finals and won third place. TN Dien Chau was even considered the strongest candidate for the championship after winning the group stage (against opponents Quy Hop, Yen Thanh and Cua Lo, scoring 13 goals and conceding only 2).

However, due to bad luck and a lack of courage, TN Dien Chau lost to TN Nghi Loc in the semi-finals with a score of 1 - 2. Meanwhile, ND Dien Chau only lost to ND Nam Dan - the defending champion at that time - in the group stage and defeated ND Thai Hoa town with a score of 8 - 2 to enter the quarter-finals. Continuing to overcome ND Cua Lo town in the quarter-finals, ND Dien Chau's journey was only stopped by ND Vinh city - the team that later won the championship.

In addition to that impressive achievement, last season, Dien Chau had 6 players from the Children's team and 3 players from the Youth team selected by Song Lam Nghe An Club for the youth teams, of which 3 children's players were selected and participated in the Yamaha Cup held in Thai Binh.

With the impressive achievements of last season, the sports officials boldly set a higher goal for the 20th Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament, which is to have at least one team reach the final match.

Dien Chau young players compete at the 2015 District Children's Football Tournament.

Mr. Truong Vinh Phuc - sports professional officer, Dien Chau District Culture and Sports Center said: Compared to previous years, this year, the preparation for the tournament is more favorable when, since the beginning of 2016, along with Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau has been selected by SLNA Club to reopen the amateur class. Before Tet, sports professional officers of the provincial Culture and Sports Center have selected 25 children's players, mainly from the communes of Dien Ky, Dien Hanh, Dien Tan, Dien Thanh, Dien Van, Dien Ngoc, Dien Trung. This year, the children's team is completely renewed with the main members being the district's football team competing in the Phu Dong Provincial Sports Festival - primary school level, combined with the players who were selected at the beginning of this year.

The youth team has not been able to gather yet because they are busy reviewing for their semester exams at the end of the year. Currently, the children's team is practicing twice a week and according to the plan, after the end of the school year, the youth team will also gather and the teams will practice every day at the district stadium and the two artificial turf fields of Binh Minh and Viet Thanh.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hao - Director of Dien Chau District Culture and Sports Center said: "The football movement in general and children's football in particular in Dien Chau face certain difficulties such as the district stadium is not located in the town but in Dien Thanh commune, in a rather isolated location, so it does not attract many children to play football and practice. On the other hand, in the past 5 years, Dien Chau's sports have developed quite evenly, some sports have developed strongly such as table tennis, badminton and especially tennis.

This is a good sign for the mass sports movement, but because of that, the interest of agencies and businesses in football has decreased. However, the children's football teams participating in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Youth Football Tournament have received enthusiastic support from parents. In recent seasons, all parents whose children participated in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Youth Football Tournament have contributed funds to buy drinking water and organize a farewell party for the children, even though most of them are not well off.

During the preparation for the tournament, parents whose children live far away took the time to take their children to town to practice. Not only that, during the tournament days, a large number of parents and relatives followed the team and cheered enthusiastically, making the matches in which Dien Chau teams participated always very exciting and lively. With that spiritual strength, we believe that the goal of having at least one team reach the final is not too far-fetched."

Article and photos:Minh Quan