Tien Linh (2nd from left) celebrates with teammates and fans with the 2024 ASEAN Cup trophy - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH
Not only does it show stable performance in 2024, Tien Linh's scoring ability is also second only to Xuan Son when he and the Vietnamese team won the ASEAN Cup 2024.
ASEAN Cup 2024 is the biggest measure
Speaking at the announcement ceremony of the 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball award in early November 2024, former player Le Cong Vinh - who won 3 Vietnam Golden Balls in 2004, 2006 and 2007 - said Tien Linh was the most promising candidate.
Cong Vinh shared at the ceremony: “Tien Linh is playing well and has the most goals (6 goals at that time - PV) in V-League 2024-2025.
It has been a long time since a domestic striker has scored so many goals after 6 rounds. However, we have to wait until after the ASEAN Cup 2024 for the title of "Vietnam Golden Ball 2024" to be revealed, and at present it is impossible to say who is the most deserving. If he and the Vietnamese team are successful at the ASEAN Cup 2024, Tien Linh will be a strong candidate.
Not only Cong Vinh or experts, the organizing committee also believes that ASEAN Cup 2024 is the biggest measure for candidates in the final stage of the election.
That is also the reason why the organizing committee announced the deadline for receiving votes as January 8, 2025, three days after the end of the ASEAN Cup 2024, so that delegates have time to "ponder" and choose the name they consider most worthy.
In this final race, Tien Linh continued to show good form, despite the presence of naturalized striker Nguyen Xuan Son since the last match of the group stage against Myanmar, forcing coach Kim Sang Sik to leave him on the bench.
Tien Linh (left) and teammates at the recent ASEAN Cup
Opportunity for Tien Linh
It is not difficult to see that the current race for the 2024 Vietnam Golden Ball is a race between three players: Tien Linh, Hoang Duc and Quang Hai. Even Dinh Trieu can dream of breaking into the top 3 when he played outstandingly at the 2024 ASEAN Cup and won the title of Best Goalkeeper of the tournament.
But in terms of form and stability throughout 2024 at both club and national team level, Tien Linh is still superior. At B. Binh Duong Club, Tien Linh is the team's leading scorer with 15 goals scored in 2024 in both V-League and National Cup (not including assists).
In which he scored 7 goals after 9 matches in V-League 2024-2025 to lead the scoring list with Leo Artur (Hanoi Police) and Xuan Son ( Nam Dinh ).
In the Vietnam national team, Tien Linh is the top scorer in the first matches under coach Kim Sang Sik. He scored twice in the 3-2 win over the Philippines in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in June 2024 and 1 goal in the friendly match against Thailand in September 2024.
Even when Xuan Son was present and scored 7 goals, Tien Linh was only second in the race for the top scorer at the ASEAN Cup 2024 with 4 goals.
Not to mention, he also had 2 assists to help Quang Hai score the only goal in the 1-0 win over Indonesia and help Xuan Son score to increase the score to 4-0 in the 5-0 win over Myanmar in the group stage.
Meanwhile, despite having more playing time than Tien Linh, Hoang Duc did not play as well as expected throughout the group stage of the ASEAN Cup 2024.
He only played well when the Vietnamese team entered the knockout round with Singapore (semi-final) and Thailand (final). However, Hoang Duc did not score or directly assist his teammates to score.
At the club level, Hoang Duc also played quite poorly for The Cong - Viettel Club in V-League 2023-2024 during the period of choosing whether to leave or stay when his contract was about to end.
He only played well when he was relegated to the 2024-2025 First Division, helping Phu Dong Ninh Binh Club win all 5 matches. But the First Division has much lower professional quality than the V-League where Tien Linh is shining.
Tien Linh only finished second after Van Quyet in the 2022 Vietnam Golden Ball award, despite winning the title of co-top scorer of the 2022 AFF Cup with Dangda (Thailand) when both scored 6 goals.
The reason is that he has not shown as good a performance as Van Quyet in the club shirt. But now Tien Linh has both conditions to hope to step onto the podium of glory for the first time.
Tuoitre.vn
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/qua-bong-vang-viet-nam-2024-lan-dau-cho-tien-linh-20250110224427447.htm
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