Nguyen Hong Pham: A lifelong attachment to Ho Chi Minh City football

Nguyen Hong Pham is a goalkeeper with a beautiful style on the field and left an unforgettable mark on Ho Chi Minh City football.

NEVER BEEN CARDED

Despite his physical advantages, only 1.69 m tall, former player Nguyen Hong Pham still had a brilliant career thanks to his talent and possessing special qualities to become a good goalkeeper. He has a slim figure but excellent jumping power, quick reflexes, and accurate judgment of situations to always make timely and decisive decisions. In the 80s and 90s of the last century, when playing for the Customs or Saigon Port teams, he was always an extremely reliable support for his teammates, with reasonable entry and exit and knowing how to control the 16m50 area.

Nguyen Hong Pham ( second from right ) and former goalkeeper Tran Van Khanh attend the AFC coach training course.

PHOTO: DOCUMENTARY

Former goalkeeper Nguyen Hong Pham said: "I was lucky to inherit the qualities of my grandfather Nguyen Tan Hieu, former goalkeeper of the Gia Dinh Star team. Born and raised in Saigon, from a young age I followed my grandfather to the stadium to watch the matches, absorbing every move and style of play of the players on the field. It was my grandfather who inspired me and gave me the passion for football, giving me the iron motivation to pursue a career as a goalkeeper, despite my modest height."

Throughout his career, from the time he studied at the Ho Chi Minh City Vocational School to joining big football teams, Mr. Hong Pham has developed for himself a calm, gentle, and beautiful way of catching the ball. He shared: "I love beautiful football and it was my grandfather and my family who gave me the confidence to choose a style of play that is not rough, but has an artistic style. When I played for the Saigon Port team, I was led by coach Pham Huynh Tam Lang - a teacher I always admired for his elegant playing style. He taught us what beautiful football is and how to build a team that follows beautiful playing style on the field and beautiful behavior off the field. Also because I grew up and matured in such a beautiful environment, I have built for myself a proactive, effective way of catching the ball and not making rude mistakes." Perhaps that is why, during nearly 10 years of playing at the top level, he set a record as a goalkeeper who has never received any penalty cards.

Former player Hong Pham said: "When I retired at the age of 31 in 1995, I went to study coaching and then joined some football teams in Ho Chi Minh City and those had to be fair teams. I set this for myself because I didn't want to go against the motto from the beginning of my life. That is to make the image of Saigon football always sparkling and glamorous in the eyes of fans. If any team couldn't achieve that, I would immediately leave."

Nguyen Hong Pham ( standing row, 7th from left ) in the Vietnamese team jersey at the 16th SEA Games in 1991

PHOTO: DOCUMENTARY

Former football star Nguyen Hong Pham and his grandfather Nguyen Tan Hieu - former goalkeeper of Gia Dinh Star team

PHOTO: NVCC

FATE WITH YOUTH FOOTBALL

Former goalkeeper Nguyen Hong Pham once played for the Vietnamese team at the 16th SEA Games in 1991 in the Philippines and was lucky to referee the matches against Indonesia and Malaysia. He recalled: "At that time, the Vietnamese team played 3 qualifying matches. Tran Xuan Ly played against the host Philippines and drew 2-2, then I was assigned to referee the next 2 matches. I still remember both matches, the Vietnamese team played very resiliently because it was the first time they went abroad, they had just integrated, so everything was still awkward, they didn't have much experience in international competitions, so they made a few mistakes. But we still encouraged each other to try to stand firm on the field. Although we couldn't go far, many valuable lessons were learned and laid the foundation for the team's future development. We won the first silver medal at the 18th SEA Games in 1995."

Former football star Hong Pham was also one of the first two goalkeepers of Vietnam to be selected to attend the class organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). "At that time, being able to study at AFC was a great honor and pride. If Vietnamese football wanted to follow the professional path, it needed professionals. Tran Van Khanh and I from The Cong were selected to study so that we could assign one person to the national team and one person to the Olympic team. At that time, I was very eager to do something to contribute to the country's football." He and former football star Lu Dinh Tuan also had another great honor of being an AFC coach instructor from 2012 to 2018.

Mr. Hong Pham has been involved with Ho Chi Minh City football almost all his life. He was an important member of the coaching staff of Saigon Port teams or later Dong A Bank - Pomina Steel. In 2013, he accepted to join the coaching staff of U.19 Vietnam. Simply because U.19 Vietnam at that time took Mr. Duc's HAGL generation as the core, also pursuing good and beautiful football with names like Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong... He felt that it was the team with a gallant playing style, beautiful passing style similar to the image of Saigon Port team with good morals and cultural behavior.

He also participated in the coaching board of NutiFood Academy in Ho Chi Minh City, built according to the model of HAGL. Later, he and two former famous players and close colleagues, Ha Vuong Ngau Nai and Nguyen Hoang Xuan Truc, participated in coaching the U.17, U.19, and U.21 teams of Ho Chi Minh City. He recalled: "I had the opportunity to be involved in youth football since 1998 when I joined the coaching board of the U.21 team of Ho Chi Minh City, helping the team win third place in the U.21 Thanh Nien Newspaper tournament . Then I joined the coaching board of the U.21 Thanh Long team with coach Tam Lang to participate in the U.21 tournament in Gia Lai in 2004, and with U.21 Ho Chi Minh City to participate in the final round of the U.21 tournament in Binh Dinh in 2008, winning second place".

Perhaps his love for Saigon has kept him throughout his career, without him joining football teams in other parts of Vietnam. And all this time, he has devoted all his passion to youth football training. "Now at the age of over 60, I have no regrets about my choice," he shared. He also did not forget to mention a big dream of his life, which is to train good goalkeepers for Ho Chi Minh City football in particular and Vietnam in general.

Former football star Nguyen Hong Pham also became an active member of the Ho Chi Minh City Former Footballers Association, regularly participating in charity activities, sharing the difficult circumstances of his seniors and uncles who were not lucky in life. Thanks to a stable family background, he is still full of enthusiasm at the age of 62, still happy and wants to dedicate his whole life to Ho Chi Minh City football. (to be continued)

Nguyen Hong Pham was born in 1964 in Ho Chi Minh City, played for the Customs team in 1986, Saigon Port since 1988, and the national team in 1991. He was the goalkeeper coach of the U.19 Vietnam team (won the runner-up position in the U.19 Southeast Asia in 2013).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguyen-hong-pham-gan-bo-ca-doi-voi-bong-da-tphcm-185250427164423737.htm