Dinh Bac has been nominated for the Best Goal of the Group Stage at the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship.

Prior to the quarter-final matches, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced a special honor for striker Nguyen Dinh Bac.

Dinh Bac's goal against Saudi Arabia has been nominated for an award at the 2026 U23 Asian Championship - Photo: AFC

Specifically, the AFC website has opened a poll for the best goal of the group stage of the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship. Among the nominees is Dinh Bac's goal against host nation Saudi Arabia.

"Brought on in the second half, Dinh Bac scored the decisive goal in the 65th minute with his agility. He broke into the penalty area and unleashed a powerful shot between goalkeeper Hamed Yousef and the post," AFC described Dinh Bac's goal.

Immediately, the star of the Vietnam U23 team quickly rose to the top of the list. By the morning of January 16th, Dinh Bac had received 77.78% of the votes. The runner-up was Ali Azaizeh of Jordan, who only received 8.89% of the votes.

However, this is a free vote. Anyone can go to the AFC homepage to vote for their favorite goal. Therefore, it's possible that Vietnamese fans flocked there to vote for Dinh Bac.

At the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship, the player from Nghe An province is in excellent form. With two goals in the group stage, he is currently ranked third in the top scorer list.

The top scorer at the moment is Leonardo Farah Shain of Lebanon U23 with 4 goals. However, this striker no longer has the opportunity to improve his record as he has been eliminated. Ali Azaizeh of Jordan and Ryunosuke Sato of Japan both have 3 goals and are in second place.

Dinh Bac still has a chance to take the lead. At 10:30 PM on January 16th, he and the Vietnam U23 team will face the UAE in the quarterfinals. This is a tough opponent with many naturalized players.

Nevertheless, with Dinh Bac in excellent form, Coach Kim Sang Sik's team has reason to hope for another victory. If that happens, U23 Vietnam will reach the semi-finals of the AFC U23 Asian Championship for the first time since 2018.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dinh-bac-duoc-de-cu-ban-thang-dep-nhat-vong-bang-u23-chau-a-2026-20260116095529758.htm