HAGL struggles to find new Messi, Pirlo of Vietnamese football

Although Hoang Anh Gia Lai keeps claiming trophies in junior competitions, it still cannot unveil a cohort strong enough to carry on from Nguyen Cong Phuong and Nguyen Tuan Anh, which makes the task of finding the next "Messi" and "Pirlo" for Vietnamese football more pressing.

Once considered Vietnam's top youth training cradle, which produced a golden generation including Nguyen Cong Phuong, Nguyen Tuan Anh, Luong Xuan Truong, and Nguyen Van Toan, Hoang Anh Gia Lai now faces the challenge of finding faces capable of succeeding the generation of players that once changed the face of Vietnamese football. Although still consistently achieving success in youth tournaments, the Mountain Town team has yet to produce a Messi or Pirlo new as fans have hoped.

Looking at the record, HAGL remains one of the most traditional academies in the country. The Mountain Town team won the National U13 Championship in 2017, the National U15 Championship in 2016, and three National U21 titles in 2014, 2017, and 2024. In the U17 competition, HAGL's best result was runner-up in 2024, while the team has also won silver and bronze medals at the National U19 tournament multiple times.

However, those titles do not accurately reflect the output quality at the professional level. After the generation of Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, and Xuan Truong, the number of HAGL players retaining positions in national teams has been decreasing. Currently, Dinh Quang Kiet and Tran Trung Kien are rare names from the HAGL academy still present in the national team setups. In the U19 Vietnam team, Tran Gia Bao was given a chance but has yet to make a clear impression amid competition from talents of PVF, The Cong - Viettel, or Hanoi.

That reality is partly reflected in the National U17 tournament. Playing at home in Pleiku with high expectations to go far, HAGL was eliminated early in the group stage. Coach Bui Xuan Hieu's team suffered a loss to The Cong - Viettel 2-5 in the opening match, then continued with a 0-1 defeat to Da Nang and ended the tournament with a 1-0 victory over PVF. However, the three points were not enough to help the Mountain Town team secure a quarterfinal berth.

It can be said that HAGL was placed in a very difficult group, competing with two title contenders, The Cong - Viettel and PVF. Therefore, the elimination was not entirely a shock. However, for an academy once considered a symbol of Vietnamese youth football, this result still makes many people feel disappointed.

In recent years, training centers such as PVF, The Cong - Viettel, and Hanoi have invested heavily in both facilities and training methods, creating increasingly fierce competition. While HAGL players are still highly regarded for their technique and football intelligence, they often face questions about their physicality, mental strength, and ability to adapt to high-intensity match environments.

HAGL remains loyal to its youth training philosophy and has never stopped investing in the future. But what fans now expect is not just more youth tournament titles, but the emergence of a generation capable of continuing the legacy of Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, and Xuan Truong. Only when they find again the Messi and Pirlo new of Vietnamese football, will the Mountain Town academy truly reaffirm the status that once made its name.