On the hot summer day, the fire of Vietnam's football world was lit again. on August 5, Hanoi will be the focus of attention, the Vietnam team gathered here to open the prelude to the preparation for the 12th round of the tournament, becoming the second team to start pre-tournament training after Oman. The Vietnam Football Association (VFA) acted quickly to announce a 31-player training list, but surprisingly, Nguyen Cong Phong, who is known as "Vietnam's Lionel Messi", is not on the list.
South Korean coach Park Hang-soo returned on July 28 with a handpicked 31-man roster after wrapping up his remote coaching of Vietnam. Earlier, the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) had quietly sifted through a preliminary list of over 40 men, including many Vietnamese players who featured in the Top 40. However, Park Hang-su, with his own discerning eye, finalized the 31-man squad.
In the just-concluded 40-team tournament, 28 out of the 29 participating players of the Vietnamese team managed to be selected in the 31-player list, only Nguyen Cong Phong on the forward line failed to get his wish. The result has sparked an uproar in Vietnam's domestic soccer world and among fans.
However, surprisingly, Nguyen Cong Phong's defeat was due to his own will. It is reported that Nguyen Duong Phong's wife is pregnant and is due at the end of August. In order to accompany his wife to give birth, Nguyen Duong Phong asked the coaching team not to participate in the first two rounds of the 12-team tournament in September. After careful consideration, Park Hang-su finally agreed to his request.
Apart from Nguyen Cong Phong, goalkeeper Dang Van Lin, who plays for Japan's Osaka Cherry Blossoms, was also absent for some reason. Dang Wenlin was originally the backup starting goalkeeper for the 40-team tournament, but the day before the team departed for the UAE, Park Hang-su suddenly called up another goalkeeper, Nguyen Van Huong, to the team, resulting in Dang not being able to travel with the team. The reason was that Dang was affected by an epidemic and could not gather with the team.
In addition to the 28 players participating in the 40-team tournament, the new Vietnam training team will also welcome three new members. They are defender Truong Van Che, who plays for Telecom Sports, midfielder Le Chin Anh from Binh Dinh, and striker Pham Jun Hai from Ha Tinh Hong Lam. Among them, Le Chin Anh's selection is the most notable. The 1998-born youngster, who is only 1.68 meters tall and weighs 65 kilograms, said goodbye to the green field 5 years ago due to a serious injury and took a break for nearly 2 years.
In order to make ends meet, Lai Chin Ying had opened a shoe store in his hometown of Shicheng. Fortunately, he met a good doctor who helped him recover completely. As a result, in 2019, he joined the Binh Phuoc team and re-launched his playing career. His playing skills caught the attention of the head coach of the PyeongDeong team, and a year later, he was picked up by PyeongDeong and caught the attention of Park HengSu with his outstanding performance at the club.
