On the evening of December 21, a memorable milestone occurred when Nguyen Xuan Son became the first naturalized player to play for the Vietnamese national team in an official tournament such as the AFF Cup 2024. He was selected to start in the match between Vietnam and Myanmar in the group stage.
Nguyen Xuan Son played brilliantly. He had 2 goals and 2 assists, contributing to 4 out of 5 goals that Vietnam scored against their opponents. This was a dream debut for the national team that many teammates could not compare to Nguyen Xuan Son. The striker born in 1997 became the great hope of the Vietnamese team in the number 1 tournament in Southeast Asia.
Hoang Vu Samson missed the opportunity to play for the Vietnam team.
The dream of winning the AFF Cup 2024 is clearer to Vietnamese fans thanks to Nguyen Xuan Son, but many people feel even more regretful for Hoang Vu Samson. This player was naturalized in 2013 but has never had the opportunity to play for the Vietnamese national team. Even if we only count in the V.League, Xuan Son is not sure to be able to maintain the incredible stability like Samson.
This star was born in 1988 and will be 36 years old when the AFF Cup 2024 takes place. However, his number of goals and assists this season is higher than that of young strikers such as Van Toan, Vi Hao, Thanh Binh or Tuan Hai. Last season, he even scored 13 goals and had 1 assist for his teammate while playing for Quang Nam Club.
Hoang Vu Samson scored a total of 219 goals in V.League up to the end of the match in round 9 between Quang Nam and Hanoi. Nguyen Van Quyet - the domestic player with the most goals only scored 117 goals. Nguyen Xuan Son scored 71 goals after more than 5 years playing in Vietnam.
When the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) started the plan to use naturalized players, Samson was already old. Tran Trung Hieu was also naturalized a few years later, but he played for the Uganda national team under the name Kizito. Vietnamese football currently does not have many naturalized players capable of contributing to the national team.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/xuan-son-toa-sang-tuyen-viet-nam-tiec-tien-dao-nhap-tich-ghi-219-ban-ov-league-ar915460.html
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