Until Cong Phuong scored the opening goal - also the winning goal for Binh Phuoc club against Ho Chi Minh City Youth team in the 2024-2025 Vietnam National Cup on the afternoon of October 19, 2024, did anyone remember the striker's last goal at the club level? It's probably not easy to remember, so you'll have to look back in the data warehouse to see, it happened on October 9, 2022.
That means the 2-year, 10-day mark for the gap between the 2 goals. At that time, Cong Phuong had returned to wear the Hoang Anh Gia Lai shirt after a period of playing abroad and then to Ho Chi Minh City Club under a loan contract. And the interesting thing is, with the captain's armband, the striker from Nghe An scored the goal to shorten the score to 1-2 in the loss to Ho Chi Minh City right at home in Pleiku.
From Pleiku to Binh Phuoc, there is a geographical distance of more than 400km, but Cong Phuong had to take a "detour" through Japan and spent 2 years to take the first steps, find the first joys, and relieve a lot of pressure for himself. Do not rush to judge something after the first goal in the First Division team's shirt, but still need to affirm and acknowledge the 29-year-old striker's mettle.
Surely many people are worried about Cong Phuong under the pressure from comments and assessments on social networks, but what the player who played in Belgium, Korea, and Japan said is a clear answer: "Do not use social networks". Whether or not that is true is not important, but the meaning in what was said is that the outside world is not something that can negatively affect him.
And in front of coach Kim Sang-sik, Cong Phuong has already scored points for one day returning to the national team. There is still at least 1 more month for Cong Phuong to continue to find himself, to return to the team after more than 1 year of absence. Cong Phuong's last goal for the team was on September 11, 2023, under coach Philippe Troussier - also the last match since then.
