Center back Nguyen Van Hanh: From SLNA's surplus to Vietnam U22 shirt

Nguyen Van Hanh was born in 1998 in Hop Thanh, Yen Thanh. Like many other football-loving children, Van Hanh played football from the hamlet and commune levels and was selected for the Yen Thanh Youth Team to participate in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Tournament in 2011. Thanks to that tournament, Van Hanh received a notice of admission from SLNA Club.

At the age of 13, Van Hanh officially joined the SLNA academy. This is quite a late age compared to many other young players of SLNA, who joined right from the Children's group. As a boy born into a poor family, understanding the hardships of his parents, and entering the academy later than his teammates, Van Hanh practiced diligently hoping to one day become talented.

Among the young players of SLNA born in 1998, Van Hanh was highly appreciated for his good physique and condition. Since the generation of Van Duc - Xuan Manh, the quality of SLNA youth training has declined and Van Hanh soon found a place. In 2015, Yen Thanh player was promoted to participate in the 2015 National U19 Finals, even though he was only 17 years old at that time.

Center back Van Hanh is currently playing for Hai Phong Club. Photo: Zing

In 2016, Van Hanh was selected by coach Nguyen Van Thinh to participate in the national U21 qualifying round held in Thanh Hoa. After that tournament, Van Hanh and other faces such as Vu Dat and Dinh Chau were full of hope to reunite with their old teacher Ngo Quang Truong in the SLNA first team.

Among his students at the U21 SLNA team, Coach Ngo Quang Truong really wanted to add Van Hanh to try his hand at the V.League. However, the former head coach of SLNA did not realize that plan, he left the position of captain of the Nghe An team. Van Hanh was not promoted to the SLNA first team and received a notice of contract termination.

Drifting in the First Division, Second Division in the colors of the People's Public Security, Binh Thuan, and even the National Third Division, Van Hanh could not see the future. Many times, this young player wanted to give up football and return to his hometown to find another job.

Fortunately, he was encouraged and introduced by a teacher at SLNA, the player born in 1998 drifted to the mountainous town of Pleiku to seek a last chance at HAGL. Here, he was welcomed because HAGL was in dire need of tough, determined central defenders.

Center back Nguyen Van Hanh in SLNA shirt. Photo: Goal VN

At that time, he was only 19 years old, and was selected to join the HAGL U21 team to play in the national tournament. Thanks to his experience in the years playing for the SLNA youth team, he was smart and integrated very quickly. He contributed to helping the HAGL U21 team win the national championship for the first time, then participated in the Vietnam U21 team to win the runner-up position at the U21 International Championship.

In 2018, Van Hanh was the only domestic player added by HAGL to the V.League. With a good training environment and a desire to learn, the young man from the rice fields made remarkable progress and had 6 starting matches. At HAGL, coach Duong Minh Ninh highly appreciated Van Hanh.

However, HAGL was not Van Hanh's final destination. The mountain town team recruited central defender Kim Bong-jin and the Nghe An player lost his position. Before V.League 2019, he was sent to Hai Phong by coach Ngo Quang Truong to try his luck. This season, Van Hanh is quite an important factor for the port city team with 13 matches.

The U22 Vietnam shirt is a worthy reward for the efforts of center back Yen Thanh. Photo: VFF

At the age of 21, not many players have played as much in the V.League, in the position of central defender as Van Hanh. And that is the reason why he has been continuously called up by coach Park Hang-seo to the Vietnam U22 team in the past two years to prepare for the 30th SEA Games at the end of this year. And next year is the 2020 AFC U23 Championship in Thailand.

At the Vietnam U22 team, although he cannot compete for a starting position with stars like Tan Sinh, Tien Dung, Duc Chien and possibly Dinh Trong, Van Hanh will be a useful option for coach Park Hang-seo thanks to his many experiences in the V.League in the club's colors.

Van Hanh has a 1m76 physique, very good tactical thinking and importantly he is still very young, has many opportunities to become a great and worth watching player.

Under the guidance of "wizard" Park Hang-seo and with valuable experience in the youth teams of SLNA, HAGL and Hai Phong, hopefully Van Hanh will soon mature and make great strides in the future.

Two concerns of U22 Vietnam before the goal of 'hunting for gold' at SEA Games

(Baonghean.vn) - Coach Park and his team have gone through 11 unbeaten matches, setting a record with 10 wins, most recently the U22 team defeated the senior national team 5-4 on penalties, after two goalless draws. This makes Coach Park still have some worries.