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Brazilians talk about Xuan Son, Brazilian and German football

TPO - I came to Brazil to attend the BRICS 2025 Media Forum and Advisory Group taking place in Rio de Janeiro from July 15-17, but I accidentally had an interesting experience related to Brazilian and German football.

Báo Tiền PhongBáo Tiền Phong17/07/2025

On the morning of July 15 (local time), I was wandering around the Grand Hyatt hotel when I saw a "big, black, sweaty guy" wearing a name tag named Victor Hugo. I knew Victor Hugo Gomes Silva (born May 11, 2004) was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a midfielder for the Süper Lig club Göztepe, on loan from Flamengo. However, he was just a football fan and looked a bit like Brazilian player Rafaelson Bezerra Fernande, who had naturalized as a Vietnamese citizen under the name Nguyen Xuan Son.

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Victor Hugo takes a souvenir photo with Vietnamese fans who love Xuan Son at the Bayer Leverkusen area in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 15, 2025. Photo: Cheng Jing.

Xuan Son - suitable land and people

I showed Hugo a photo of Xuan Son, he smiled and joked: "Oh, it's me. I came to Vietnam to work part-time during the summer vacation. I saw that everything in Vietnam was beautiful so I asked to stay." I said, "good land attracts birds" and then told Hugo about Xuan Son's achievements and the affection of Vietnamese people for naturalized players.

For example, Xuan Son is the main striker of Nam Dinh Club (scoring 7 goals in 8 matches for the club), winning the title of V.League 1 Top Scorer in the 2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. At the end of last year, Xuan Son debuted for the Vietnam National Team at the AFF Cup 2024, scoring a double in the first match against Myanmar, then becoming the tournament's top scorer, helping Vietnam win the championship and also winning the title of Best Player of the tournament. Recently, Nam Dinh Club decided to sign Xuan Son to a new contract until 2031 even though he is still undergoing treatment after breaking his leg in the first leg of the AFF Cup 2024 final against Thailand.

After listening, Hugo nodded, "suitable for the land and the people" and then smiled and whispered: "Before that, Rafaelson did not achieve so many achievements when playing in Brazil, Japan, Denmark". After that, Hugo sighed and said he was very happy to see Xuan Son playing successfully and being loved in Vietnam, but Brazilian football was losing its identity because the best players went to Europe to play with an increasingly pragmatic style. "When we were little, we played football, on the streets, in the schoolyard, with all the passion and carefreeness. Therefore, you see us favoring the soaring, artistic style of play", Hugo said. I added: "European football, especially Germany, is too disciplined and pragmatic, reducing the overall beauty of the king of sports ". Receiving my sympathetic "teasing" attitude, Hugo became even more "floaty", rambling on in both English and Portuguese. I don't understand everything, I just know Hugo wants to "release".

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Former Bayer Leverkusen striker Paulo Sérgio (right) welcomed his old club back to his homeland on the first day of July 14, 2025. Photo: Bayer Leverkusen.

"Brazilian"

Brazilian football has long been associated with the word "art" - not only because of the samba dances recreated on the field but also because of the carefree, street-style football spirit. The Brazilian quality in football does not come naturally, it is nurtured from dusty dirt fields, from rag balls rolling around in narrow alleys, where boys play football from the time they can walk. From schools to street corners, anywhere can become a football field. It is this closeness that has created a generation of players with natural skills, creative inspiration and an enchanting playing style.

The burning passion and carefreeness when playing football is the cradle that gives birth to the spontaneous, flamboyant and different Brazilian football. Unexpected turns, soft turns, spontaneous but effective passes – all create a football that is not only for winning but also for "performance", to please the audience like a real art performance. That is why the world has bowed down to names like Pelé, Zico, Ronaldinho or Neymar – symbols not only of talent but also of the soul of Brazilian football.

However, in the modern context, when more and more Brazilian players play in Europe - where tactics, discipline and efficiency are highly valued - the "artistic" identity of Brazilian football seems to be fading. They have to adapt to strict playing systems, sacrificing improvisation to suit the tactical requirements of big clubs. Although there are still delicate technical moves, the "playing football like dancing" quality - once the soul of Selecao - is gradually becoming rare. That change makes fans admire the maturity of Brazilian players, but also regret a football identity that once captivated the world. That is the "Brazilian quality" of the past - freedom, creativity, artistry.

Hugo had just finished his "Wow, wow" chant when I saw the Bayer Leverkusen players check in to their hotel. I'm not very familiar with German football so I noticed the robot dog they brought with them.

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Bayer Leverkusen's robot dog brought to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Nhat Anh.

Bayer Leverkusen tour

After chatting with Hugo and asking for documents from the German delegation, I learned that Bayer Leverkusen visited Rio de Janeiro from July 14-24, becoming the first Bundesliga club to organize a pre-season tour of South America. Under the slogan “Esquenta!” (Warm-up), Leverkusen prepared for the new season at Flamengo’s Ninho do Urubu (Eagle’s Nest) training center. The 2023/24 German double winners have media activities and a notable friendly match. Bayer Leverkusen will play a friendly against Flamengo’s U20 team – the reigning U20 Copa Libertadores champions for two consecutive years – on the afternoon of July 18 at the Estádio da Gávea.

Leverkusen have been working to strengthen their ties with Brazil in recent years. The club visited the South American country as part of the Trophy Tour 2024, before launching its Portuguese-language digital channels (Instagram, website, WhatsApp) in May 2025 and announcing the creation of the Bayer 04 Football Academy in São Paulo. The centre, inaugurated just before the trip, is run by Paulo Sérgio, one of 20 Brazilians to have represented the Rhineland club.

This trip to Brazil is also Leverkusen's first under new head coach Erik Ten Hag. Leverkusen finished second in the Bundesliga in 2023/24, 13 points behind Bayern Munich. They return to action in the first round of the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) against Sonnenhof Großaspach on August 15, before opening their Bundesliga campaign at home to Hoffenheim eight days later.

After more than 30 years without a trophy, the team won its first Bundesliga title and its second German Cup in 2024, becoming the first German team to go an entire season unbeaten in both competitions and setting a European record for the number of consecutive unbeaten matches.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nguoi-brazil-noi-ve-xuan-son-bong-da-brazil-va-duc-post1760731.tpo


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