A strange case
Before leaving with the Vietnam futsal team to participate in the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2020, the writer also had the opportunity to talk with player Nguyen Van Hieu. From Van Hieu's sharing, we can see the "rich" talent of this player born in 1998 for futsal.
Among the 16 members of the Vietnam futsal team participating in the tournament in Lithuania, Nguyen Van Hieu is considered the "youngest". Although he is older than Chau Doan Phat (1999), Nhan Gia Hung (2002), Van Hieu is the name that came to futsal the most late.
"It was not until 2018 that I learned about futsal. No one believes it, but it only took me 3 training sessions to get used to the futsal pitch before participating in the national championship, Nguyen Van Hieu said about his first time being involved in futsal.
Also in that year, a new "rookie" competing for the first time on the futsal field made the top names in the Vietnamese futsal community pay attention to him. Because at the end of the season, Van Hieu was the top scorer with 14 goals for Hoang Thu Da Nang.
Many coaches and futsal players at that time considered Van Hieu to be a "rarely found" leader of Vietnamese futsal in terms of his ability to adapt and potential for development. That is the reason why after only 2 seasons of coming to professional futsal, he was named in the list of the Vietnam futsal team, opening the journey to bring him to the world playground.
The World Cup dream... comes true
It was not until 2018 that he became a futsal player, but when Van Vu, Minh Tri, Duc Hoa and Quoc Nam participated in the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2016, Van Hieu at that time did not dare to believe that one day he would be a teammate of these "old teams" in the World Cup. Because at that time, the player on the payroll of the Hieu Hoa Da Nang futsal team was just a household name in the grassroots football fields along the Central region, there was no definition of futsal.
Thanks to remarkable progress and possessing the necessary qualities for a fustal player: fast, skillful and effective finishing, Van Hieu has gradually affirmed his name in the national championship. Then he caught the "green eye" of coach Pham Minh Giang, and at this time his talent was truly "exposed" and a new step forward when playing alongside the best futsal players in Vietnam at the moment.
Not only is he a teammate of Van Vu, Minh Tri... but now Van Hieu is also considered a hero of the Vietnam futsal team in the World Cup playground. The goal that sealed the 3-2 victory over Panama was like a documentary depicting the brilliance of this Quang Nam-born player.
He read the situation of stealing the ball from Panama players, then used his speed to overcome the obstacles of the two opposing players before running his shoe to pull the ball through the Panamanian goalkeeper and when finished, the target was a goal. In this attack, Van Hieu, in addition to being able to accelerate from a short range, also showed his commendable resilience and efforts. Remember, Van Hieu shoots when he has fallen and the shot is very narrow. If the Vietnam futsal team squeezed through the narrow door and won a ticket to the next round, it would be no exaggeration to call Van Hieu a "hero".
This is like a dream, right from the moment I took off my futsal training shoes and played professionally, I did not dare to think that I would have today, Van Hieu confided before the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2020 started.
Indeed, this is not a dream. Because Van Hieu has been continuing to work with his teammates to write miracles for Vietnamese futsal at the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2020!