Vinh City aims to win medals at the Nghe An Newspaper Cup in 2024

The champion… returns

In the 25-year history of the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children Football Tournament, the two youth and children football teams of Vinh city are among the most successful teams of the tournament. In particular, the Vinh city youth football team is the "record holder" with 14 championship titles.

However, from 2016 to 2022, Vinh city's youth football performance declined. The last time the youth team won the Gold Cup was in 2015; and the last time the youth team took the top spot in the tournament was in 2014.

During this period, the two youth and children football teams of Vinh city no longer made other local football teams wary every time they faced each other. There were years when both teams had to stop early, unable to get past the group stage.

There are many reasons for this decline, which are: Parents in Vinh city focus on their children's education, not interested in creating conditions for their children to practice and participate in football tournaments. In the process of urbanization, football fields in Vinh city have been narrowed or no longer exist. Children no longer have much space to play football and have fun.

However, since 2022, the development of youth football in Vinh city has changed in a positive direction. After the COVID-19 pandemic, awareness of physical education activities has been raised, parents have paid more attention to creating conditions for their children to play and practice sports. In Vinh city, there have appeared many community football centers, specializing in training youth football for children.

This change has created a positive effect. In Vinh city, many children are trained and pursue their passion for football. As a result, the achievements of Vinh city's youth football teams have been improved. At the 25th Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children's Football Tournament in 2023, Vinh city's youth football team won third place, and Vinh city's youth football team won second place.

After many years of not achieving high results, the achievements of the two youth and children football teams of Vinh city at the 25th Nghe An Newspaper Cup have become a great source of encouragement for the city's youth football to regain its position.

Mr. Vu Hong Duc - Deputy Director of the Center for Culture - Sports and Communications of Vinh City said: "Vinh City has set a goal of winning medals in both age groups at the Youth - Children's Football Tournament of Nghe An Newspaper Cup in 2024. In preparation for the tournament, we have carefully selected, trained and nurtured players; created the most favorable conditions for the children to compete well and achieve high results."

Methodical, meticulous

To achieve the set goals, from the beginning of May 2023, the Vinh City Center for Culture - Sports and Communications has selected the most outstanding and talented athletes from schools to form two youth and children's teams to practice...

Mr. Nguyen Chien Thang - coach of Vinh city's children's football team said: The team's players were selected from 6 community football training centers in Vinh city. In addition, the team also recruited players from the primary school team participating in the upcoming National Phu Dong Sports Festival and from wards and communes far from the center.

When training, the coaches focus on training the children's physical strength, basic techniques and training their competitive spirit. One of the advantages of the Vinh City children's football team compared to other teams is that they get to practice early on in indoor football field conditions. In many localities, due to the lack of large enough sports facilities, young players still have to practice on natural grass or artificial grass fields.

Initially, the Vinh city children's football team played a friendly match with the primary school team participating in the province's National Phu Dong Sports Festival and lost 3-5. In the near future, the team will also play more friendly matches with other teams.

Mr. Nguyen Chien Thang added: "In terms of our own strength, Vinh City's children's team is in the top 6 strongest teams of the tournament. We will try to reach the semi-finals."

Similar to the children's team, the Vinh City youth football team also started gathering from May 5. The team gathered nearly 60 young players from junior high schools in the area. After 10 days of training, the team selected the 14 best players to participate in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament in 2024.

Mr. Tran Anh Duc - coach of Vinh city youth football team said: "Compared to last year, the team's players are not as even. The players with outstanding physique are concentrated in the defense line. Based on the current lineup, Vinh city youth football team will build a defensive counter-attacking style of play. Recently, the team had friendly matches with a number of teams, including a loss to the junior high school team participating in the National Phu Dong Sports Festival with a score of 4-8 and a win against a number of teams from other localities. The team's goal is to win medals."

Notably, the Vinh City youth football team this year has a very solid goalkeeper. In particular, a former goalkeeper coach of the Song Lam Nghe An Football Club is working as a “volunteer” to help the Vinh City team train their goalkeeper.

Coach Tran Anh Duc added: The two teams are receiving the attention, direction and active support of Vinh city, and the companionship of parents. In particular, there are also sponsors who have wholeheartedly supported Vinh city youth football such as Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung - General Director of Anh Phap Limited Liability Company (also known as Mr. Hung Moc), Mr. Nguyen Huy Linh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fuji Real Estate Group, Head of the Youth Football Department of Nghe An Football Federation... The attention and support is the motivation for the team to go deep into the tournament and achieve the set goal of winning medals.