Ambulance picks up Xuan Son at Noi Bai airport, an unforgettable AFF Cup

At 2:15 pm today, the Vietnamese team will land at Noi Bai International Airport. The team will be welcomed at the airport by leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Department of Sports and Physical Training. As for Xuan Son, he will also return with the team and will be picked up at the airport by an ambulance. Tonight, the team will be present at the Government Office , welcomed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and awarded the First Class Labor Medal.

Xuan Son has done something special that has never happened before in the history of Vietnamese football.

Nguyen Xuan Son suffered a serious injury and was forced to leave the field in the 32nd minute, he was taken straight to the hospital for emergency treatment. Xuan Son did not score any more goals in the second leg of the final, but he still received the title of top scorer, with 7 goals.

Xuan Son won both the top scorer and best player titles of the tournament.

Nguyen Xuan Son's scoring record far surpasses the players closest to him in the top scorer list. There are 4 players who scored 4 goals in this year's tournament, including Patrik Gustavsson, Suphanat Mueanta (Thailand), Shawal Anuar (Singapore) and Nguyen Tien Linh. They are also the players with the scoring record closest to Xuan Son.

Nguyen Xuan Son became the second player in the history of Vietnamese football to win the title of top scorer of the AFF Cup, after Nguyen Tien Linh in the AFF Cup 2022. However, 2 years ago, Tien Linh was the joint top scorer with Teerasil Dangda (Thailand), each scoring 6 goals. Now, Xuan Son has the sole title of player with the most goals in the tournament.

Xuan Son needs 3 months to recover from a broken leg, unable to compete in the Asian Cup

In addition, Xuan Son also won the Best Player award. He became the fourth Vietnamese football player to receive this title at an AFF Cup. Previously, Nguyen Hong Son (in 1998), goalkeeper Duong Hong Son (2008) and Nguyen Quang Hai (2018) were Vietnamese players who won the AFF Cup Golden Ball award.

Xuan Son celebrates titles at hospital in Bangkok

However, Nguyen Xuan Son is different from the above players in that he won both the Golden Ball and the top scorer titles at the same time. This player became the first person in the history of Vietnamese football to win the two titles mentioned above in the same AFF Cup tournament.

In terms of Southeast Asian football, Nguyen Xuan Son became the third player in history to simultaneously win the AFF Cup Golden Ball and Top Scorer titles in the same tournament. The people who did this before Nguyen Xuan Son were Noh Alam Shah (Singapore) at the 2007 AFF Cup and Chanathip Songkrasin (Thailand) at the 2020 AFF Cup.

With 7 goals in this year's tournament, Xuan Son equals the scoring record in one tournament of Natipong Sritong-In (Thailand) in 1996 and Ilham Jaya Kesuma (Indonesia) in 2004. He is also behind the achievements of Bambang Pamungkas (Indonesia, 8 goals) in the AFF Cup 2002, Adisak Kraisorn (Thailand, 8 goals) in 2018 and Noh Alam Shah (Singapore, 10 goals) in 2007. However, Xuan Son did not play enough matches in this year's tournament. He only started playing from the 4th match of the group stage.

What do foreign media say about Vietnam's AFF Cup championship?

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xe-cuu-thuong-don-xuan-son-tai-san-bay-noi-bai-ky-aff-cup-khong-the-quen-185250106014509027.htm