The shortlist for the 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball award includes 5 names: Nguyen Thanh Chung, Nguyen Hoang Duc, Nguyen Quang Hai, Pham Tuan Hai and Nguyen Tien Linh. In particular, the Golden Ball award is considered by experts to be a competition between striker Nguyen Tien Linh and midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc.
Therefore, both the Golden Ball and Silver Ball titles will belong to these two names. Both are expected to win the most votes to compete for the prestigious award of Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper. Of course, the Bronze Ball award will be a race for the remaining members: Nguyen Quang Hai, Pham Tuan Hai and Nguyen Thanh Chung.
Among them, Thanh Chung is superior to the other two teammates, especially the important contributions of this central defender in the journey to win the 2024 ASEAN Cup championship of the Vietnamese team.
At the 2024 ASEAN Cup, the tournament is considered the most important measure to find names worthy of the titles of the 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball award, Thanh Chung had a quite impressive performance.
This central defender played a total of 630 minutes, with 7 starting matches at the ASEAN Cup 2024, only behind midfielder Hoang Duc (638 minutes) in terms of minutes on the field. He is also the name with the most dangerous situations compared to the defenders in this tournament.
Together with Duy Manh and Tien Dung, this trio created solidity in the Vietnamese national team's defense, thereby creating peace of mind for goalkeeper Dinh Trieu and Nguyen Filip through each match.
Thanh Chung may not be superior to Hoang Duc and Tien Linh to be able to strive and compete for the highest title of the 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball award, but he is the name that is considered superior to the other two names, Quang Hai and Tuan Hai, at both club and national team level.
It would be worth it for center back Nguyen Thanh Chung if he had entered the top 3 best players for the first time, thereby being able to receive the 2024 Vietnam Bronze Ball award.
This will be a worthy reward for his contributions over the past year and also a motivation for the 1997-born midfielder in his career.
