Quoc Duy's Paradox

Ironically, Nguyen Van Quoc Duy is one of the best opposite hitters in Vietnam currently. However, he is currently out of favor in his own domestic league.

Quoc Duy (right) shone brightly for the national team but disappeared in the colors of the Ho Chi Minh City Police team - Photo: AVC

Despite entering the AVC Nations Cup 2025 with a lot of skepticism, Quoc Duy ultimately became one of the two main scorers for the Vietnamese men's volleyball team.

Brilliant form

With his favorite pupil at the Border Guard Club, Pham Van Hiep, injured, coach Tran Dinh Tien has placed his trust in Nguyen Van Quoc Duy for the opposite hitter position in the Vietnamese national team.

Standing at 1.85m tall, the athlete born in 2001 has a smaller physique compared to Van Hiep (1.91m) or Pham Quoc Du (1.95m). However, Quoc Duy ultimately dominated the AVC Nations Cup. By the end of the tournament, he had scored 83 points, making him the third-highest scorer after Chang Yu Sheng of Chinese Taipei (104 points) and Nguyen Ngoc Thuan (93 points).

Left-handed, Quoc Duy showed he was extremely dangerous in attacks from the second line. His spikes, whether diagonal or straight, were always very powerful and stunned the opposing defense. His attacking power compensated for his relatively short stature for a male volleyball player. Not only was he effective at the net, but Quoc Duy was also very dangerous with attacks from behind the 3-meter line and serves. Of his 83 points, Quoc Duy scored 73 from attacks, 6 from direct serves, and 4 from blocks.

His diverse scoring ability makes him seem like he'll score whenever he gets into the swing of things. Quoc Duy strikes fear into his opponents, whether they're Korean, Indonesian, or even the reigning champions Qatar. However, his weakness lies in defense, as he can't block effectively due to his height limitations.

Nevertheless, with his outstanding performance, Quoc Duy was kept on the field by coach Tran Dinh Tien for almost the entire match. It wasn't until the final matches of the Vietnamese national team at the AVC Nations Cup, when his physical condition had significantly deteriorated, that Quoc Duy had to give way to Pham Quoc Du.

But then it disappeared into the water.

Despite his brilliant performances for the national team, ironically, Quoc Duy is not given much playing time in domestic competitions. To this day, he remains a member of Tra Vinh , a team that regularly plays in the National A-League.

Thanks to his talent, Quoc Duy is frequently given opportunities to play for teams in the National Championship by his club. Previously, he played for Trang An Ninh Binh and then for The Cong Tan Cang. In these teams, the young man from Tra Vinh left a strong impression.

In early 2025, Quoc Duy was brought in by the newly recruited Ho Chi Minh City Police team. However, things were no longer smooth sailing as he couldn't compete with his senior teammate Pham Quoc Du, who was a better fit for the team's playing style.

And so, Quoc Duy completely "disappeared" from the first phase of the 2025 National Championship. Sadly, it even made many fans forget which team he was playing for. At the Hung Vuong Cup, the fact that the Ho Chi Minh City Police team used three foreign players – Michal Kubiak, Julio Cardenas, and Rendy Tamamilang – made Quoc Duy's chances of playing even rarer.

Faced with this unfortunate situation, Quoc Duy decided to withdraw from the 2025 National Championship and return to Tra Vinh to compete in the A-League. In a lower-tier league without foreign players, a star like Quoc Duy proved to be far superior. Thanks to this, his team won all four matches in the first phase.

It's unclear which team the 2001-born opposite hitter will play for in the second phase. If he continues to be a reserve player for Ho Chi Minh City Police or returns to play for Tra Vinh, Quoc Duy's professional development will be questionable. And it could lead to a regrettable waste of his talent.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nghich-ly-cua-quoc-duy-20250629081133359.htm