SHB Da Nang football club has been crowned as the new champions of V-League two rounds earlier. This victory marks a great contribution of young coach Le Huynh Duc.

Known as a former top striker of the Vietnam national squad, Duc was awarded many prestigeous titles of the Vietnam football such as the Golden Ball in 1995, 1997, 2002 and the Golden Shoe for top striker in 1996 as well as many other national and international titles. And only after two years at a new position as a manager, Duc has helped his current football club - SHB Da Nang - win the V-League in 2009, becoming the youngest manager in Vietnamese football history to lead a winning team.

With the high discipline and professionalism gained during the time playing for the Ho Chi Minh Police FC and for the Chinese Super League’s Lifan FC, the former striker of the national squad has led Da Nang in the right way. Besides, he also encouraged his footballers to play in various positions.

Those who practised and played well were appreciated regardless of those who were the main players or the substitutes, creating a fair competition atmosphere in the club. That also explained why in this season, despite some staff difficulties, Da Nang never showed their imbalance in arranging or replacing positions in the field.

One of the most important things contributing to the championship title of Da Nang is that Huynh Duc has a squad of young and talented players.

They are goalkeeper Van Hanh, defender Phuoc Vinh or midfielder Rogerio Nguyen together with quite a few promising young players such as Quoc Anh, Thanh Phuc, Quang Tuan, Duc Cuong, all are now at the age of 24-25, Hoang Quang, Van Hoc, Hong Son, Thanh Hung, Cao Cuong, Nguyen Sa all are at the age of under-23.

Not only the fair and exemplary coach, Duc also has good understanding about the situations of each player in the team. It’s Duc who successfully persuaded keeper Van Hanh to stay with the team.

However, two years of coaching Da Nang were not the rosy years all the time for Duc. Such big losses to T&T Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or Binh Dinh sometimes raised big question marks about the transparency in those matches. Having overcome all those groundless rumours, Duc won the fans’ hearts by what he had done to the football club of Da Nang.

Le Huynh Duc was three times voted for the Best Manager of the Month title, a recognition by the colleagues and experts for his great contribution to the squad. Together with the championship title of SHB Da Nang, Duc is deserved being nominated as the Best Manager of the Year.

VietNamNet/Nhan Dan