Nguyễn Đình Bắc (centre), who wasted multiple chances during the match against Singapore last Friday. VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

Anh Đức

In May 2025, during the match between Independiente and Rivadavia in Argentina's First Division, Santiago Montiel, the cousin of World Cup winner Gonzalo Montiel, scored with an astonishing overhead kick from outside the box. The goal won him the 2025 FIFA Puskas Award.

But the goal did not help Santiago made the World Cup squad for Argentina, nor did it help Independiente win the league. It did not make Santiago one of the best players in the game.

Last Friday, in the match between Việt Nam and Singapore in the 2026 ASEAN Championship, Việt Nam’s Nguyễn Đình Bắc tried a spectacular volley in a golden chance to open the score for Việt Nam. Bắc failed, was subbed just four minutes before the break and the Golden Star Warriors drew 0-0 at home.

The frustration was visible. Bắc walked off the Mỹ Đình pitch with a face like thunder, and coach Kim Sang-sik did not sugarcoat matters afterwards, stating plainly that his forward had not fulfilled his task and had played below the level shown in training. 

This was the same Bắc who, one week earlier, had announced himself with a hat-trick and an assist in the 7-0 demolition of Timor-Leste. The talent is not in question. The decision-making is.

And Bắc, to his credit, knew it. Speaking after the match, the 22-year-old admitted his performance was poor, that he had wasted two chances which would have made the night far easier for his team, and that honesty matters. In a football culture where young stars are often shielded from criticism, a forward publicly owning his failure is a sign of maturity that bodes better for his career than any acrobatic finish would.

Because here is the uncomfortable truth about spectacular football: it is a poor predictor of greatness. Neymar was the most gifted entertainer of his generation, a walking highlight reel, yet his career will be remembered as much for what it promised as what it delivered.

Richarlison scored perhaps the most beautiful goal of the 2022 World Cup with his mid-air scissor kick, and has spent the years since fighting for a starting place. Vinicius Jr dazzles weekly with his flair, yet still divides opinion on whether the end product matches the show. Alejandro Garnacho built a reputation on overhead kicks before he had built one on consistency. 

The football world is littered with players who chose the marvellous over the effective, and the trophy cabinets of history belong overwhelmingly to the latter.

Việt Nam cannot afford the distinction to be lost on their brightest young forward. The draw with Singapore, in which the team fired 22 shots and struck the crossbar twice without scoring, has turned tonight’s away clash with Indonesia into the match that will likely decide Group A. 

There will be chances in Jakarta, fewer and harder-earned than at Mỹ Đình, and what Việt Nam need from Bắc is not a Puskas contender. They need the ball in the net, by whatever ugly means necessary.

He should ask his idol. Bắc has never hidden his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Portuguese great offers the perfect lesson. Ronaldo did not become the highest-scoring player in the history of the game through hundreds of wonder goals. 

He became it through tap-ins, penalties and six-yard finishes, a trait his haters ridicule to this day. Let them laugh. Nearly a thousand goals speak for themselves, because in the end, efficiency is what counts. VNS