Van Toan: From failed striker to coach Park Hang-seo's 'trump card'

When mentioning Hai Duong, people immediately think of the famous specialty green bean cake. But in recent years, Hai Duong has become more famous thanks to football, including player Nguyen Van Toan.

In the first course of HAGL JMG academy, Van Toan, along with Hai Duong boys like Van Thanh, Van Son, joined after Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong... The reason is that coach Guillaume Graechen decided to "directly recruit" Van Toan, Van Thanh, Van Son after watching the trio win the national children's tournament. "In the 2007 national children's tournament, our Hai Duong team won. Surprisingly, coach Giom chose us without having to test us when we joined HAGL JMG academy", Van Toan recalled.

In fact, when he first joined Bau Duc's training center, Van Toan was nervous. In the first batch of the academy, the striker of U19 Vietnam was considered to be behind the rest of the team. Therefore, in 2011, Van Toan had to move down to the lower batch, practicing with his juniors. This repetition was the first challenge in his life, helping Toan realize what he had to do to keep up with his friends. At the U17 finals in 2013, Van Toan shone brightly with 4 goals. His solo goal past 6 opposing players in the U17 HAGL - Dong Thap match fascinated all the spectators. His impressive performance at the tournament helped Van Toan return to the first batch. Not only that, after the challenging period, he matured a lot.

Returning from the U17 tournament, Van Toan was picked up by coach Guillaume Graechen to join the U19 Vietnam team to participate in the U19 Southeast Asian finals. In Indonesia, the duo Cong - Van (Cong Phuong - Van Toan) continued to play explosively and became the terror of defenses. In this tournament, Van Toan won the top scorer title with 6 goals.

Difficulties in V-League

After the success in the youth tournament, Van Toan and the HAGL players were promoted to try their hand at the V-League. The harshness of Vietnam's number one tournament seemed to stifle Van Toan's development and in fact, the striker born in 1996 had not been able to score in nearly 20 matches. It took a long time for the striker from Hai Duong to regain his image as a fearsome explosive force in the attack of U23 Vietnam and HAGL. The long streak of scoreless matches affected Van Toan. Knowing that he was weak in physique, Toan rushed to the gym every day to improve his physical strength as well as "rice thickness".

In this year's V-League, after 20 rounds, Toan exploded with 8 goals. Thanks to his progress, Toan is always the name chosen by coaches Miura, Huu Thang and Park Hang-seo every time the team gathers. Thanks to his diligence and perseverance on the field, many times, Toan has scored goals in the style of "stealing eggs" due to the opponent's mistakes. "When I go on the field, I just run and run. Run until I can't anymore, then stop and breathe. For me, going on the field is fighting because when I do my best, there is nothing to regret," Van Toan said with a laugh.

Emotional boy

Not only skillful on the field, Toan is also an emotional person, living with integrity. To show his filial piety, he gave all his prize money from the U23 Asian Cup finals to his parents. In the middle of this year, Van Toan decided to give the entire 40 million VND of the 2017 Fair-Play award to female player Thuy Trang, after hearing about her treatment for her mother's cancer.

"Toan is very filial. I remember in 2016, when his sister got married, he saved up his money to buy a refrigerator and a washing machine for his sister's family," said Mr. Nguyen Van Tao, Van Toan's father.

In 2017, after scoring in the match against Macau at Thong Nhat Stadium, Van Toan celebrated by pulling his shirt to reveal his undershirt with the message "don't be sad TN". The message was immediately "decoded" as Van Toan expressing his feelings for his girlfriend. After a long time in mystery, Van Toan finally suddenly shared at a meeting with fans: "I have a girlfriend". "TN" is the abbreviation of Trang Nhung, his girlfriend's name. Earlier this year, Trang Nhung was also present at Noi Bay airport to welcome Van Toan back after his victory in China. Both Van Toan and Trang Nhung are quite secretive and do not show their affection on social networks, but both receive support from a large number of fans.

Coach Park Hang-seo's 'trump card'

Continuously playing well, proving himself on the field, Van Toan was still "locked up" by coach Park Hang-seo, and then when the opportunity was ripe, he became the "trump card" creating a breakthrough in the attack. In the 108th minute of the quarter-final match against Syria, Toan rushed forward like an arrow, scoring the decisive goal to help Olympic Vietnam win a ticket to the semi-finals for the first time.

Modern football is a game of tactics and calculation. There are people who can wear down opponents like Duc Chinh and Anh Duc, but there are also people who need to "hide from the wind" to then deliver decisive punches. In just a moment, Van Toan did what Mr. Park expected. "He is not only strong, fast but also skillful. To tell the truth, every time I face Toan, I have to use all my strength to guard him. I have been beaten up a lot. Toan is one of the best wingers in Vietnam at the moment," former Vietnam national team defender Nguyen Xuan Thanh commented about Van Toan.

• Nguyen Van Toan was born on April 12, 1996 in Thach Khoi commune - Gia Loc - Hai Duong.
  
• Van Toan is 1.72m tall and weighs 68kg.
  
• Van Toan won the U19 Southeast Asian silver medal twice (2013, 2014), U23 Asian runner-up (2018), and top scorer of the U19 Southeast Asian championship (2013).