Early morning October 1 (Vietnam time), Cristiano Ronaldo scored 1 goal in Al Nassr's 2-1 victory over Al Rayyan in the group stage of the 2024-2025 AFC Champions League. At the age of 39, despite the surrounding stories (both positive and negative), Ronaldo is still persistent and still has the same desire.
The Portuguese superstar dedicated his 904th career goal to his father - a soldier who went through a difficult life and died in 2005 at the age of 51, on his birthday (September 30). From his father's circumstances and difficulties, Ronaldo's will and desire were formed and trained, so that now, hardly anyone can say that he is better than him in this regard.
Ronaldo always keeps that desire, with the clearest proof being that when he turned 30, the number of goals he scored (441) surpassed the number of goals he scored in his twenties (440), and even in fewer matches (523 compared to 596).
Ronaldo is always compared to Lionel Messi - who is called a genius, but when entering the final stage of his career, the Argentine superstar seems to be "weaker". That further highlights the effort to train to maintain his physical condition that many people, many other players also envy.
If we consider Ronaldo as an example, looking at most Vietnamese players, the desire seems to have a limit. At just over 30 years old, their physical strength has declined rapidly, and at around 27-28 years old, they are said to have lost their motivation because they have been “too successful”. I don’t know if it is reasonable to say “the desire to play abroad”, but clearly, the results of a series of players leaving and returning in failure are not a matter of will, training and perseverance in pursuing career goals.
It is true that Vietnamese football is still facing difficulties, but the players themselves - the main characters - must be the pioneers in changes to save and solve the problems of football.
There must be desire, and desire has no limits. If you are satisfied with what you have achieved, living with the indulgence of compliments, then there is no need to say more.
