Waiting for Nguyen Xuan Son to return

At the end of round 10 of V-League 2025-2026, clubs participating in the tournament will be allowed to register additional or replacement players.

This means that striker Nguyen Xuan Son can return to play for defending champion Nam Dinh Club from round 11.

The fact that Nguyen Xuan Son can return to play after a serious injury is good news for him as well as the fans of this naturalized striker. Previously, the Brazilian striker broke his fibula and tibia while playing for the Vietnamese team in the second leg of the 2024 ASEAN Cup final in Thailand in January 2025.

After a successful bone surgery in early 2025, the medical team predicted that Xuan Son could return to competition in September 2025. However, the unreasonable physical therapy process caused the striker of Nam Dinh Club to recover slower than expected. During this time, Xuan Son had to return to Brazil for intensive treatment and maintain a stable physical foundation.

Waiting for Xuan Son to regain his form in the club's shirt and return to the Vietnam national team. Photo: NAM DINH CLUB

During FIFA Days in October 2025, when V-League was suspended to make way for the national team, Nguyen Xuan Son officially trained with Nam Dinh Club and played a friendly match with the PVF Youth Team - People's Police.

During the absence of Xuan Son, Nam Dinh FC's performance was unstable at the beginning of the season. The reigning V-League champions fell to the bottom 5 teams and were 10 points behind the leading team. At the AFC Champions League Two arena, they lost in the 3rd round of the group stage. This result also caused coach Vu Hong Viet to resign before round 8 of the V-League 2025-2026. Xuan Son's return promises to help Nam Dinh FC improve their performance in the remaining journey of the season, aiming for high results in 4 arenas: V-League, National Cup, AFC Champions League Two, Southeast Asia Cup C1.

During Nguyen Xuan Son’s absence, the Vietnamese team played 3 matches in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, winning 2 and losing 1. The heavy loss to Malaysia made the door to the final round of the tournament narrower for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team.

Excluding the possibility of Malaysia being deducted points or banned from continuing to participate in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for cheating on player naturalization, the Vietnamese team, in order to win a ticket to Saudi Arabia, needs to win the remaining two matches in Group F, including creating a 5-goal difference in the rematch with Malaysia.

Recently, coach Kim Sang-sik has also boldly tried out new elements but has not yet found a striker of sufficient caliber to replace Xuan Son. If Xuan Son quickly regains his form, the Vietnamese national team's attack could become 3 times stronger when this striker reunites with his former teammate Do Hoang Hen (Hendrio) - a Brazilian midfielder who has just acquired Vietnamese citizenship. This duo contributed greatly to helping Binh Dinh Club enter the top 3 best teams in the domestic tournament in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Moving to Nam Dinh Club, Xuan Son combined with Hoang Hen to form an effective "twin" in the V-League, helping the team from Thanh Nam win the championship for 2 consecutive seasons.

When the strength of the Malaysian team has decreased due to the loss of 7 players who were illegally naturalized, the Vietnamese team with the combination of Xuan Son and Hoang Hen will create the most classy attack in Southeast Asia. Thereby, achieving a favorable result against Malaysia in the rematch at the end of March 2026 is no longer a difficult task for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/cho-nguyen-xuan-son-tai-xuat-196251025202756966.htm