Tuan Anh burst into tears after receiving the best award of U.19 HAGL

After the victory over U.21 Thailand to win the Thanh Nien Newspaper International U.21 tournament, on October 28, midfielder Tuan Anh of U.19 HAGL burst into tears when he learned that for many days his family had hidden the news of his grandfather's death from him.

My nephew kept asking me about his health, saying, “Why am I so anxious?” I felt sorry for him, but I still decided to hide it. Because at that time it was the decisive stage of the tournament, the whole team set the goal of winning the championship to erase the sadness of previous failures. I reassured my nephew that his grandfather was still healthy, at least in half a month there was still time for him to come visit. Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, father of midfielder Tuan Anh

"After the final match, Tuan Anh's sister called me to say that Tuan Anh had called to blame him for hiding the sad news about his grandfather's death. I just smiled sadly because I didn't know what to do. Before the final match, I didn't want him to be distracted by family matters," said Nguyen Van Dung, Tuan Anh's father.

At 8:45 p.m. on October 23, Tuan Anh's grandfather passed away due to a serious illness and was buried two days later. That was the time when the talented midfielder of the U.19 Vietnam team was still playing for the U.19 HAGL team in order to realize his dream of winning gold after many missed appointments.

Those were very heavy and worrying days for the family. Grandfather's death was predicted because he had been terminally ill for a long time.

In fact, keeping that secret was quite a struggle for Mr. Dung and his family. As if he had a premonition, from those days until the final match, Tuan Anh called home every day to ask about his grandfather's health.

“My grandchild kept asking me about my grandfather’s health, saying, “Why am I so anxious?” I felt sorry for him, but I still decided to hide it.

Because at that time it was the decisive stage of the tournament, the whole team set the goal of winning the championship to erase the sadness of previous failures. I reassured my grandchild that I was still healthy, at least in half a month there would still be time for him to come visit me," Mr. Dung recounted.

After the match, Tuan Anh accidentally learned the bad news through social media. He immediately called his sister and blamed his family for hiding the news. But what could he do, when the common responsibility made Mr. Dung's family determined to do this very difficult thing.

At the end of the tournament in Can Tho, Tuan Anh was once honored as the best player of the match with the titles "Best Vietnamese player of the tournament" and "Best player of the international U.21 tournament".

According to Thanhnien