Today (October 9) will be a very special day, although the V.League has been temporarily suspended and the national team is still preparing for a friendly match with the Indian team. After the friendly match with the Lebanese team was canceled, the Vietnam Football Federation arranged for the national men's football team to play an internal friendly match with the Nam Dinh Steel Blue Club - the current V.League champion.
Of course, special attention is paid to Rafaelson/Nguyen Xuan Son - the Brazilian striker who has officially obtained Vietnamese nationality. The topic of naturalization and calling up to the national team with the 2023-2024 V.League top scorer has been mentioned a lot in the past time, however, with certain conditions, the 27-year-old player's desire cannot become a reality.
Before coach Kim Sang-sik announced the call-up list, there were opinions that he should add Xuan Son's name to the list so that they could have practice sessions and work directly with him as a preparation for the possibility of official cooperation in the future. That was the idea, but it was clearly not easy to implement.
But in misfortune there is also luck, when the friendly match with Lebanon was canceled and replaced by a match with Nam Dinh, the Korean coach will also meet Xuan Son directly, although in a different aspect - as an opponent, not as a teacher and student.
The players have understood Xuan Son's strength and ability and instead of just practicing together, they will directly confront this 1m85 tall striker, as well as Hendrio Araujo, Lucas Alves, Lucas Silva, Walber and Caio Cesar.
It can also be said that this is a good test to test the players' ability to "collision", as well as to find more fluency against a team that has had a long-term combination, harmony and understanding. To see how Que Ngoc Hai, Bui Hoang Viet Anh, Do Hung Dung, Hoang Duc... will block and separate Xuan Son and the opponent's foreign factors.
As for Xuan Son, of course, he also wants to score against the Vietnamese team to… score points.
