2 former Saigon Port players scored in the World Cup qualifiers and faced off in the DNTU tournament

The silent people behind

The names of Lu Dinh Tuan and Ha Vuong Ngau Nai, heroes who have made great contributions to Ho Chi Minh City and national football over the past 40 years, are no strangers to anyone. Both of these former players were associated with the Saigon Port team in the 80s and 90s of the last century and the Vietnam national team in the early integration period. Tuan "hedgehog" with the nickname "Vietnam's Maradona" was the first player to score for the country's football in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers against Singapore on April 13, 1993. Ngau Nai was the player who scored the only goal that brought victory to the Vietnam national team against Indonesia (1-0) on April 16, 1993 in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.

2 cựu danh thủ Cảng Sài Gòn ghi bàn ở vòng loại World Cup đối đầu ở giải DNTU- Ảnh 1. — Lu Dinh Tuan (left) and Ha Vuong Ngau Nai on Bien Hoa field

Two former players who scored in the World Cup qualifiers unexpectedly met again in a four-team tournament organized by DNTU at Bien Hoa Stadium from May 30 to June 4.

2 cựu danh thủ Cảng Sài Gòn ghi bàn ở vòng loại World Cup đối đầu ở giải DNTU- Ảnh 2. — U.21 Tien Giang (blue shirt) in the match against Ho Chi Minh City University of Sports

The 4 goals that U.21 Tien Giang and 5 goals that U.19 Ho Chi Minh City scored in the opening match on May 30 in Bien Hoa had great contributions from 2 former famous players.

2 cựu danh thủ Cảng Sài Gòn ghi bàn ở vòng loại World Cup đối đầu ở giải DNTU- Ảnh 3. — Captain Huu Trong (23) and the U.19 HCMC team (white shirt) in the match against DNTU

In this tournament, Tuan "hedgehog" plays the role of advisor so that his junior Truong Huynh Phu can directly become the head coach of the U.19 Ho Chi Minh City team - the team he built himself. As for Ngau Nai, although his contract with the Tien River team only has 1 month left, he is still enthusiastically present with the U.19 Tien Giang team, standing behind to support head coach Huynh Van Tuoi.

2 cựu danh thủ Cảng Sài Gòn ghi bàn ở vòng loại World Cup đối đầu ở giải DNTU- Ảnh 4. — The joy of meeting again between Tuan Nhim and Ngau Nai, two former players who scored in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers

The two former Saigon Port players will face each other in the match considered as the early final at 1:30 p.m. on June 2 at Bien Hoa Stadium, when U.19 Ho Chi Minh City meets U.21 Tien Giang. Ngau Nai's team defeated Ho Chi Minh City University of Sports 4-3 after leading 4-1 in the first half, while Tuan "nhím"'s team with an overwhelming game also won the home team DNTU 5-1.

Student playground combined with U

It is not by chance that DNTU organizes this tournament. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the school's founding, DNTU decided to organize a four-team tournament with domestic football teams.

2 cựu danh thủ Cảng Sài Gòn ghi bàn ở vòng loại World Cup đối đầu ở giải DNTU- Ảnh 5. — The tournament attracted a large audience.

The unique feature is the four-team tournament organized by DNTU, but not only the participating schools. Because in addition to the two university football teams, there are two more U-age football teams from Ho Chi Minh City and Tien Giang. Chairman of the DNTU Council Phan Ngoc Son said: "This expansion is for no other purpose than to help student teams have the opportunity to practice with higher-level opponents. From there, they will have more experiences, learn more battle experience to gradually improve their qualities and skills. The goal of DNTU as well as other universities is of course to gradually improve their quality to be able to participate in prestigious domestic tournaments for a long time, such as the Vietnam Youth Student Football Tournament organized by Thanh Nien Newspaper, as well as prepare to compete internationally."

2 cựu danh thủ Cảng Sài Gòn ghi bàn ở vòng loại World Cup đối đầu ở giải DNTU- Ảnh 6. — Mr. Phan Ngoc Son, Chairman of DNTU Council

Mr. Tang Tri Hung, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Four-team tournament, confided: "This tournament has an important purpose of training and competition to help the U.19 Ho Chi Minh City and U.21 Tien Giang teams have more experiences to prepare for the national U.21 qualifying round which will start in July. For us, it is a long-term roadmap towards the 2026 Vietnam Youth Student Football Tournament and international tournaments that DNTU will participate in the near future. DNTU plans to cooperate with a number of university football teams to play friendly matches, such as meeting the current champion of the Vietnam Youth Student Tournament, Thanh Hoa University of Culture - Sports - Tourism and schools in Hue and Da Nang. We also plan to send the team to Malaysia or the Philippines to compete with universities in these countries."