Hồ Thanh Minh (No 16) celebrating his goal against Myanmar on Tuesday. — Photo VFF

HÀ NỘI — His Facebook profile bio reads, "Success only comes to those who try." His goal on Tuesday was a result of all of Hồ Thanh Minh's trials and tribulations over the past five years.

The striker, born on February 2, 2000, to the ethnic minority Tà Ôi, had a somewhat peculiar road to football. He was a gold medalist at his local athletics championships. He played setter and outside hitter on his school's volleyball team. But deep down inside, the Huế-born teenager knew his true calling was football.

Against his parents' wishes, who wanted him to join the police force, Minh secretly entered the Huế Football Club's Under-17 team tryouts and was selected to play. Only a year later, he was chosen for Huế FC's Under-19 team. He got his first taste of first-team football not long after, and Minh is now Huế FC's first-choice striker.

Whilst young football stars such as Quang Hải and Công Phượng began their training at a very young age, Thanh Minh was something of a late bloomer; he was almost ineligible for Huế FC's Under-17's as he was already 17 years old. But what Minh lacks in traditional training, he makes up through hard work. He knew that he had to learn everything from scratch, and he worked hard to perfect his skills, staying back and pushing on after training sessions had finished. 

Minh's hard work paid off, and he was selected for the Under-22 national team by coach Park Hang-seo in June 2020, only three years after his professional football career began. Although it was for a friendly, Park's impression of Minh was good enough to grant the Huế striker a call-up for the U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers in November. It was there that the name Hồ Thanh Minh became known after he scored the winning goal that took Việt Nam to the final tournament in Uzbekistan.

Minh confessed that his idol is the French player Paul Pogba, and his goal against Myanmar has shown why an intelligent run inside the box followed by a powerful jump and header. His speedy sprints in the second half are also reminiscent of Công Phượng, one of the players that Minh looked up to in his youth.

After the goal, Minh was congratulated by Hầu A Lềnh, chief of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, for his contribution in sports, with the press and his coach also singing his praises.

"Although there are things to improve upon, Hồ Thanh Minh can become one of Việt Nam's greatest strikers if he keeps this up," said Park, head coach of the Việt Nam national football.

But for Minh, this victory is only just the beginning. 

"My dream is to play in the V-League and play against the top stars," said the ethnic Tà Ôi footballer. 

Minh's humble origin story is truly a testament to the quote "A great artist can come from anywhere." — VNS