Football

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese-born striker Nguyễn Tiến Linh is in with a chance to compete for the top scorer title, alongside foreign players, in the V.League 1 for the 2024/25 season.

Historically, the race for the top scorer title in the V.League 1 has favoured foreign players.

Out of 21 seasons from 2003 to the present, foreign strikers have led the scoring list in 20 of those seasons. The sole exception was in the 2017 season, when Nguyễn Anh Đức (now the head coach of Bình Phước Club) scored 17 goals for Bình Dương, outstripping all foreign players.

In the last four seasons, the top scorer title has been shared between Rimario Gordon (2020, 2022) and Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes (2023, 2023-2024), who has recently been naturalised in Việt Nam as Nguyễn Xuân Son.

This season, however, domestic players have a chance to reclaim their position.

Alongside Nguyễn Xuân Son, who is now considered a domestic striker, Linh has made a strong start, netting six goals in the first six matches of the season, placing him second on the top scorers table.

He shares this tally with Leo Artur, but ranks lower due to fewer assists.

Linh not only scores regularly but also makes crucial contributions.

The 27-year-old striker's brace helped Bình Dương secure a 2-1 victory over opponent Thanh Hóa in the opening match. He followed that by scoring again to help his team earn a point at home against Hải Phòng. After contributing to Bình Dương's 3-0 victory over HCM City, he further distinguished himself with another double in a 4-1 win against HAGL.

"To me, Linh is no different from a foreign player. Even in matches where he doesn’t score, he plays well, contributes to the gameplay and demonstrates his leadership,” said Bình Dương coach Hoàng Anh Tuấn.

Breakthrough opportunity

Linh has emerged as one of the best domestic strikers in the V.League 1 in recent years. His peak came in the 2018 season when he scored 15 goals, becoming the domestic top scorer. Since then, despite being a key player for the Vietnamese national team, he has struggled to better that mark.

During coach Lê Huỳnh Đức's tenure, Linh was paired with Rimario Allando Gordon, but after being shifted to an attacking midfielder role, his scoring opportunities diminished. This position limited his ability to capitalise on scoring chances, forcing him to drop back to support his teammates. By the end of the 2023 season, Linh had only three goals, despite winning the top scorer title at the AFF Cup 2022 with six goals for the national team.

However, Linh has significantly improved his scoring efficiency this season.

For the first time in his career, he is averaging one goal per match.

This improvement stems from focused training to enhance his scoring skills, making him more versatile and sharper in his movements, heading and playmaking. Additionally, he is now positioned as the main striker, allowing him to receive decisive passes rather than drifting back or moving to the wing to accommodate foreign strikers.

Coach Tuấn aims to create an all-domestic attacking lineup that includes Linh, Nguyễn Trần Việt Cường, Nguyễn Thành Nhân and Bùi Vĩ Hào, with Linh serving both as the primary scorer and a leader among his teammates. The attacking style that coach Tuấn praises also provides Linh with a solid platform to compete for the top scorer title alongside Leo Artur, Alan Grafite (Hà Nội Police Club), Hendrio Araujo, (Nguyễn Xuân Son Nam Định) and Lucao do Break (Hải Phòng). VNS