Ups and downs of Quang Hai
In 2018, when the Vietnamese team won the AFF Cup, Quang Hai was the best player in the tournament.
That was the period when the midfielder was playing for the Hanoi Police Football Club (CAHN) at his peak. At the AFF Cup 2020 (actually taking place in 2021) and 2022, Quang Hai had performance problems, because at that time he was going through a difficult period at Pau FC (France), the Vietnamese team. Nam cannot touch the championship trophy.
Quang Hai (19) and his teammates played well in the win over Myanmar on December 21
Photo: Ngoc Linh
In both AFF Cup 2020 and 2022, the Vietnamese team stopped before Thailand (in the semi-finals and finals respectively). Quang Hai is the character on the Vietnamese team that regional media is most afraid of.
The Thai press repeatedly compared Quang Hai to “Thai Messi” Chanathip Songkrasin. They identified Quang Hai and Chanathip as the best attacking midfielders in Southeast Asian football in the past ten years.

Important victory for the Vietnamese team

Quang Hai at Noi Bai airport on December 23
As for the former coach of Vietnam’s U.20 and U.23 teams, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan commented: “Nguyen Quang Hai is the best breakthrough player on the Vietnamese team. Quang Hai can pass the ball, dribble, or shoot himself. In general, with Quang Hai on the field, teams that own this player have many different options. Even when Quang Hai is facing fixed situations, his free kicks are more dangerous than other players.
Those details show that when Quang Hai plays at his best, he is the difference between the Vietnamese team and many teams in the region. And that difference is gradually appearing at AFF Cup 2024.
Sublimation at AFF Cup 2024
In two matches played in the official squad at this year’s AFF Cup, Quang Hai both scored: the only goal brought a 1-0 victory against Indonesia and the goal to increase the score to 3-0 in the match against Myanmar. officially destroy the spirit of the opponent.
These goals all came from situations where he caught the ball bouncing off the opponent’s defense, before launching strong shots from a distance close to the 16m 50 line. This means that in addition to the situations where he scored close-range shots, Performed by strikers Xuan Son, Tien Linh, Vi Hao, the Vietnamese team will have more mid-range shots from Quang Hai, helping to make the Vietnamese team’s attack more diverse.
In addition to the two goals mentioned above, Quang Hai also had a successful pass for Van Toan (in the match against Laos) and a free kick that bounced the ball off the post in Myanmar’s goal. That proves what coach Hoang Anh Tuan said is happening, this player is gradually regaining his best form, the form in which he brought the Vietnamese team to the AFF Cup 2018 championship. Quang Hai finds himself again, maybe it’s time for the Vietnamese team to regain the AFF Cup championship that we lost to Thailand in the last 2 AFF Cups.