Recently, most experts agree that Le Huynh Duc, Le Cong Vinh, Pham Van Quyen, Nguyen Anh Duc and Nguyen Cong Phuong are the 5 most deserving names to be on the list of the best strikers in Vietnam.
In addition, Vietnamese football also has many other excellent strikers such as Nguyen Cao Cuong, Nguyen Van Dung, Tu Nhu Hien, Tran Duy Long, Tran Minh Chien or the next generation Nguyen Viet Thang, Phan Thanh Binh...
To evaluate an excellent striker, there will be many criteria to evaluate. And which criteria are prioritized among aspects such as talent, number of goals scored, number of individual titles, club titles, contribution to the national team (number of appearances for the national team). And in the world, to compare between Ronaldo and Messi who is better, the number of Golden Ball titles is also used as a measure.
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| In terms of talent, Van Quyen is superior to the rest. Photo: ST |
According to most Vietnamese football experts, Le Huynh Duc, Le Cong Vinh and Pham Van Quyen are the three most highly rated players. In terms of their expertise and even their popularity when they were playing. So who among these three is the best striker?
The minus points of Le Huynh Duc
Talking about Le Huynh Duc, experts have reason to choose Le Huynh Duc as the most comprehensive striker model of Vietnamese football in the past 25 years. Rarely is there a striker who has an ideal physique (1m78), can finish with both feet, head well and has the ability to compete and fight independently.
In terms of titles, Le Huynh Duc won the Vietnam Golden Ball 3 times (1995, 1997, 2002), was the V.League's top scorer twice. He participated in 3 SEA Games, holds the record of participating in 5 consecutive Tiger Cups (1996 - 2002), and is one of the greatest strikers in the history of the AFF Cup with 14 goals.
At the club level, Huynh Duc once shone brightly in the Ho Chi Minh City Police team, and for a time played for Chongqing Lifan (China). According to incomplete statistics, Le Huynh Duc played for the national team 66 times, scoring 34 goals.
Huynh Duc’s generation had a big disadvantage, which was that they played at a time when Thailand and Malaysia were too strong. And in his career, Le Huynh Duc rarely scored against strong teams in the region or in decisive matches. That could be the reason why he did not win any titles in the Vietnamese national team.
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| Le Huynh Duc is still a legend of Vietnamese football. Photo: ST |
In fact, among the 34 goals of Le Huynh Duc, friendly matches were included. It cannot be denied that Le Huynh Duc is a great player, but he often only scores in small matches, that is, against teams that are not too strong.
Take the 1996 Tiger Cup for example, he scored 3 goals against Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The 1998 Tiger Cup was 2 goals against Laos. At the 1999 SEA Games, he scored 4 goals against Laos. The 2000 Tiger Cup was 2 goals against Cambodia and 1 against Singapore.
In his career, striker Le Huynh Duc scored 1 goal against Thailand in the 1997 SEA Games semi-final when we lost 1-2. In the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, he scored 1 goal against China. Le Huynh Duc also scored 1 goal against Olympic Iran and U23 China, but that was in the 1999 Dunhill Cup friendly tournament. In a friendly match against Sri Lanka, he scored 1 goal in 2002.
Pham Van Quyen - Lost Genius
When mentioning Van Quyen, people think of a prodigy who won the title of Best Player of the U16 Asian Cup in 2000. Van Quyen's innate talent always conquered foreign coaches when they came to work in Vietnam. At the age of 17, Van Quyen played for SLNA in the 2001 National Super Cup against Ho Chi Minh City in 2001.
A year later, he participated in the 2002 Tiger Cup at the age of 18 and scored 1 goal in the match against Laos under coach A. Riedl. In the SLNA club shirt, Van Quyen won many V.League, National Cup and National Super Cup titles.
Compared to Huynh Duc, Van Quyen only has 1 Golden Ball award in 2003 when he was only 19 years old, Best Young Player of Vietnam in 2000 and 2002. Van Quyen's career certainly would not have stopped there if he had not been involved in negative activities at SEA Games 23.
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| Former striker and coach Kiatisak talks about Van Quyen. Graphics: TK |
However, the difference between Van Quyen and Huynh Duc is that the Nghe An striker is truly a nightmare for strong opponents in the region such as Malaysia or Thailand. Van Quyen can tear apart the opponent's defense and shoot from any position and the free kick ability of the player born in 1984 is still unmatched by anyone.
One of Van Quyen's most memorable goals in his career was the goal against the Korean national team when the Vietnamese Olympic team won 1-0 in the 2004 Asian Cup qualifiers. At that time, Korea was one of the four great heroes of world football. Or the goals against Thailand and Malaysia at the 22nd SEA Games, all of which were full of technique.
Van Quyen’s career was not very successful and it blossomed quickly, but when talking about a great player in big matches, Van Quyen is completely worthy. Van Quyen’s talent and beautiful goals conquered millions of Vietnamese fans at that time and those goals said it all.
Perhaps Van Quyen was born to play football, although he is only 1m67 tall, his natural talent has made up for his physical weakness. And it seems that he was born at a time when Vietnamese football was still full of temptations and shortcomings. To be precise, Van Quyen is a lost genius.
As for Le Cong Vinh, his talent is not considered a "prodigy" or "genius" like Van Quyen, not as comprehensive as Le Huynh Duc, but his career and contributions to Vietnamese football are more than any other striker in the past 25 years with 51 goals, 85 appearances for the national team and 1 AFF Cup 2008 championship, 3 times winning the Golden Ball. And of course, he still holds many other records.
The story and the debate about which striker is the best in Vietnamese football will probably only find an answer when there is a new player who combines and blends all the elements, from physique, will, comprehensive talent and success of the 3 players Le Huynh Duc, Pham Van Quyen and Le Cong Vinh.
(Baonghean.vn) - One thing in common between outstanding players at Song Lam Nghe An such as Nguyen Huy Hoang, Pham Van Quyen, and Le Cong Vinh is that they were given the opportunity to play professionally by the Nghe An team very early.
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Managing agency: Nghe An Provincial Party Committee
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Issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications on March 24, 2022
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