Vietnam national team rookie Khong Minh Gia Bao: Who is the 'shocking' factor of the HCM City Police Club?

Coach Kim Sang-sik surprised fans when he called up the 'brand new' central defender named Khong Minh Gia Bao to the Vietnam national team.

Center back Khong Minh Gia Bao does not have an ideal height, but....

During the Vietnam national team training session in November to prepare for the match against Laos in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, coach Kim Sang-sik decided to call up a very strange player in the defense. That was center-back Khong Minh Gia Bao, who plays for the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club.

Last night (November 5), Ho Chi Minh City Police Club won 1-0 at Da Nang Stadium. Coach Le Huynh Duc's students temporarily rose to 5th place, only 1 point behind the third place of The Cong Viettel .

The team's journey to rise last season, which also competed to avoid relegation, bore the mark of many faces. Among them, center-back Khong Minh Gia Bao was an important piece in the defense.

Khong Minh Gia Bao in the HCM City Police Club uniform

PHOTO: Ho Chi Minh City Police Club

Khong Minh Gia Bao was born in 2000, and used to be a member of the People's Police Club (now Hanoi Police Club). Gia Bao started playing at the age of 22 in Ninh Binh (the predecessor of this team is Phu Dong Ninh Binh), with 16 matches in the 2022 first division. In the 2023 and 2023 - 2024 seasons, Khong Minh Gia Bao only played 6 matches and 14 matches. At this time, Gia Bao is still not a bright factor, struggling to find a place in the first division.

The 25-year-old central defender only began to step into the light in the 2024-2025 season, when he played 20 matches in the V-League for Coach Van Sy Son's Quang Nam Club. Khong Minh Gia Bao was said to play a well-rounded role in defense.

With a modest height of 1.75 m, but good at fighting and reading situations, Khong Minh Gia Bao has stood firm against the pressure of top foreign players, even though he belongs to the group that entered the V-League quite late.

The future of Khong Minh Gia Bao seemed uncertain when Quang Nam Club dissolved, but surprisingly, the player born in 2000 had a destination called Ho Chi Minh City Police Club.

The Thong Nhat Stadium team had just transferred and needed to rebuild the squad. Only 1 season of playing in the V-League was not an impressive number when comparing Khong Minh Gia Bao with other players. However, coach Le Huynh Duc still chose to trust, when seeing the potential of his student.

The former coach of Da Nang was right. Khong Minh Gia Bao immediately became a mainstay with 9/10 starting matches since the beginning of the season in V-League, in which 8 matches, he played the full 90 minutes.

Khong Minh Gia Bao (in white shirt) must work hard if he wants to be a starter in the Vietnam national team.

PHOTO: Ho Chi Minh City Police Club

Khong Minh Gia Bao's weakness lies in his aggressive playing style (received 4 yellow cards in 9 matches). In the 0-1 loss of Ho Chi Minh City Police Club to Hanoi Police Club, Gia Bao was directly at fault for the goal when Alan Grafite easily pushed past him. Coach Le Huynh Duc said his student was "immature", but in his second season playing in the V-League, it's hard to blame Gia Bao for his shortcomings.

The only difference is, compared to the other defenders, the player born in 2000 is still the one who tries his best, in a chaotic team and is trying to shape the playing style of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club.

Defensive formation

The defense is the line that coach Kim Sang-sik is testing most actively.

Before Khong Minh Gia Bao, there were two "strange" central defenders including Tran Hoang Phuc (Ho Chi Minh City Police Club) and Dinh Quang Kiet (HAGL) who were called up for a trial in September.

Although both of them did not prove much (as evidenced by Mr. Kim not calling them back in the following training sessions), at least Quang Kiet and Hoang Phuc were tested.

Being called up to the national team does not necessarily mean being a starter or staying on, but for players like Hoang Phuc or Khong Minh Gia Bao, as long as they try hard enough, the opportunity will come. Even though that opportunity may only be a call-up lasting a few days, it is something many players have to strive for their entire careers to reach. That is the reward for unfamiliar names like Gia Bao to continue to improve.

In defense, Mr. Kim has 5 central defenders: Do Duy Manh, Bui Tien Dung, Pham Xuan Manh, Nguyen Thanh Chung, and Khong Minh Gia Bao. The first 4 players are very familiar, with 7 years wearing the national team jersey. However, most of them have reached (or are about to reach) 30 years old. Some have lost their form.

Coach Kim Sang-sik needs a breath of fresh air, and Gia Bao's presence carries the message that the Korean strategist wants to convey. The center back of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club has 1 week of training to prove himself.

Who knows, the opportunity will come, just like the way Mr. Kim brought "unknown" heroes like Doan Ngoc Tan or Nguyen Dinh Trieu into the light.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tan-binh-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-khong-minh-gia-bao-nhan-to-soc-cua-clb-ca-tphcm-la-ai-185251106161354876.htm