Sinh was the elder of two brothers who represented Saigon and the South Vietnamese team in the sixties and seventies.

He was a top striker of the Hai Quan club and the South Vietnam team, while his younger brother He made a great impression as a defensive midfielder and center fullback for various teams in his football career.

Now 62, Sinh says, “I played nearly ten years for the South Vietnam squad and I can’t remember how many goals I scored.

“But what I remember most is that I was very fast in the opponents’ penalty area.”

Sinh was the best scorer in the 1973-74 season in the South Vietnam championship and the best striker again in 1976 when his club Hai Quan won the Cuu Long championship.

Sinh scored the equalizer in the final against Tong Cuc Duong Sat before Thanh Cang scored in the winner to earn Hai Quan the championship.

Sinh said, “I remember that Tong Cuc Duong Sat took the lead early in the match and its defenders played tough.

“But Cu He, Thoi Vinh and Thanh Cang played actively behind me. They kept feeding me in that match and in a quick combined operation, Cang made a neat pass to me and I equalized.

“We combined well again for Cang to do the scoring the next time and we won the title.”

Sinh also remembers he scored against South Korea at a military tournament in Thailand in 1971 to help the South Vietnam squad win the championship.

He was also in the South Vietnam squad that shared the Petra Sukan championship in Singapore in 1971 with India when the two teams drew 0-0 after 90 minutes and agreed to share the title.

Sinh later retired soon after 1976, because the injury he had suffered in late 1974 made it impossible for him to continue to make on significant contribution.

Recently, he migrated to the US with his family. Yet Sinh hopes he will “come back to play on the HCMC’s veteran team one day.”

Both Sinh and his brother He were in the South Vietnam squad that participated in three consecutive Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games from 1969 till 1973. They won the silver medal in 1973.

Sinh and He were also part of the Hai Quan team that won the Cuu Long championship in 1976.

Younger ‘Cu’ as a versatile player

Sinh’s brother He was born in 1953, six years before Sinh. Cu He played for the South Vietnam squad from 1967 till 1975.

The team coach from Germany, Karl Heinz Weigang, found Cu He could control the ball really well, so he assigned him to different positions, often as a defensive midfielder and a center fullback.

Cu He played so superbly at an Asian junior tournament in the Philippines in 1967 that the media then reported the Nan Hua club in Hong Kong wanted to buy him.

He was also very good in the match that South Vietnam played against German club Hertha in 1975. But the Vietnamese team lost 1-2 to the German rivals.

Cu He is likely the only player of the time to play for three big teams in Saigon from 1976 till 1984.

“I played for different teams because of different reasons. I reluctantly left Hai Quan because the team was penalized for involvement in a match fixing scandal in 1976.

“I went home to play for Phu Khanh but then I missed Ho Chi Minh City football so much that I came back to play for Saigon Port in 1979 and stayed until 1982 when the coach of So Cong Nghiep, Tran Tuong Lai, wanted me to strengthen the back of the team and support striker Khanh Hung upfront.”

Despite being a defender, He managed to score some important goals in his career. The one he remembers most was in a match in which Saigon Port beat Cong An Hanoi 3-1 in 1979.

“Xinh scored two goals and I scored the other after getting around three defenders,” He said.

After he retired, Cu He returned to his home in Cam Ranh District to train its young players in 1984 and 2003 but he didn’t stay long.

“Things have changed. In the past, coaches just tried to teach the players strategies and skills.

“Now, you need more than that. If you don’t receive ‘support’ from officials, you can’t do the job of coaching very long.”

So Cu He now contents himself by playing football with veteran friends.

Reported by Quang Tuyen