Unpredictable Vietnam Golden Ball

Hoang Duc, Tien Linh have many advantages

The 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball Awards Gala will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on February 26. The voting period ended more than a month ago, about a week after the 2024 ASEAN Cup ended. Of course, this is an important measure that determines the voting for the 2024 Men's Golden Ball category.

Le Cong Vinh - a former Vietnamese player once commented: "This year's award is very special. We have to wait for the ASEAN Cup to end to find a worthy player." In the Southeast Asian arena, Tien Linh is one of the players who contributed greatly to helping the Vietnam team win the championship. He scored 4 goals and had 2 assists, ranking 2nd behind Nguyen Xuan Son.

However, the 2024 ASEAN Cup will not only see Tien Linh explode. Nguyen Hoang Duc in the role of playmaker also made an important mark, including the task of recovering the ball and creating play. In particular, in the first and second leg of the final against Thailand, the midfielder born in 1998 played outstandingly and was highly appreciated by experts.

There is clearer evidence, based on the competition criteria, the ASEAN Cup 2024 Organizing Committee has ranked Hoang Duc as No. 1 in the list of the best players in the tournament. With what they have shown with the Vietnam National Team, Hoang Duc and Tien Linh have the advantage in the race to win the 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball.

Don't forget Tuan Hai, Quang Hai, Thanh Chung

Fans are also waiting for the day Quang Hai won the Vietnam Golden Ball, after the first time in 2018. From the perspective of contributing to the Vietnam National Team at the ASEAN Cup 2024, Quang Hai can stand out from Hoang Duc in some criteria leading to goals. Accordingly, he had 2 goals, 2 assists, 11 passes to create opportunities for his teammates.

Overview of the whole year of 2024 and the 2 matches against Thailand in early 2025, Quang Hai left his mark in 16 goals of the Vietnam National Team and the Hanoi Police Club. The disadvantage of this player is that Hanoi Police did not compete successfully in the national championship. This is similar to Hoang Duc or Tien Linh, when home teams such as Binh Duong and The Cong Viettel (when Hoang Duc was still playing) did not win titles.

It is worth mentioning that this is something that Thanh Chung and Tuan Hai of Hanoi FC are more excited about than the 3 candidates mentioned above.

With Tuan Hai, in addition to the 2024 ASEAN Cup championship, he also won the National Cup runner-up position with Hanoi FC. According to statistics, in 37 matches in 2024 and early 2025, Tuan Hai scored 13 goals and assisted 4 times for the Vietnam National Team and Hanoi FC. The biggest obstacle for the 27-year-old striker is having to wait until the second leg of the ASEAN Cup final to shine. Before that, throughout the tournament, Tuan Hai entered the field with a modest time and was somewhat obscure compared to his other teammates.

Meanwhile, Thanh Chung is also a player who contributed greatly to the Vietnam National Team in defense. That is also the reason why the ASEAN Cup 2024 Organizing Committee ranked the 1997-born midfielder second in the list of players with the best performances in the tournament. However, Thanh Chung's disadvantage is playing in the center-back position. His form in the Hanoi FC shirt is not really stable.

The voting of players for the 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball award is based on different viewpoints and criteria, depending on each vote of experts. Therefore, the owner of this noblest award becomes even more unpredictable.