http://www.thanhnien.com.vn/Kieubao/2005/6/13/112654.tno Translation: Lee Nguyen and the World Youth Championship Dream The World Youth Championship opening will take place in Holland this weekend. This event has introduced big names in the soccer world such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kanu... This time there will be a young Vietnamese American in the jersey color of the US U-20. His name is Lee Nguyen - the winner of "The Best Highschool Player Of 2004". Lee Nguyen is even more proud as he is the only highschool player on the roster composed of mostly professionals playing in Mexico, France, England, US, ... Parents mad because of ... soccer Lee's dad, Mr. Nguyen Pham together with his family, moved to the US in 1975 living in an extremely difficult conditions. "My parents worked very hard just to be able to raise me and my younger brother to complete our university degrees in Texas. I gotmarried in 1985." Lee's mom, Mrs. Ton Nu Ngoc Bich, once had a role in "Though far it's near" in 1980s. So passionate about soccer, Mr. Pham used the name of a former well-known Vietnamese footballer The Anh for his son. When the toddler Lee Nguyen started his first steps, Mr. Pham bought soccer balls to teach his son how to shoot in his backyard. He even invited his relatives, acquaintances who used to be playing in Vietnam to come to his home and give Lee Nguyen's lessons. However, Lee's mom liked to see her son focus more on school. Several times, Lee's parents had been mad at each other just because Mr. Pham was so concentrating on teaching his son to play soccer. When she knew that she couldn't change her husband's passion, Mrs. Bich accepted his decision to let their son persue the sport. Growing up, Lee Nguyen's schedule has been packed with school work and training on the soccer field. Ironically, Lee was quite slow in developing his physique. At 14, he was slightly over 5'2 - a height was not really suitable for a soccer player who would like to follow a professional playing career in the US. Therefore, not a single youth team in Texas wanted to take Lee. With all the love for his son, Mr. Pham was determined not to let Lee's playing days come to a screeching halt. After several searches, he gathered his courage to beg an English coach to take Lee for his team. "I asked the coach to just let Lee train with the team, not necessarily play in matches. After much entreating, the English coach fianally gave in. Lee was very diligent in training. He has never come late and been always the last person to leave the field. This gradually got the attention from the coach and he eventually gave Lee 15 minutes for every match. Since then, Lee has built his confidence in his playing ability ..." * If Lee Nguyen shine at the World Youth Championship, will you let your son persue a professional playing career? - Mr. Pham (pondering): To be honest with you, I like Lee and Diem My (Lee's younger sister) to have university degrees as that is the wish of their mom. I have a good job here in Texas thanks to the hard work my parents had done so that I could have a chance to complete my school; thus, I do understand and value the importance of having an education in the US. I am truly worried that if Lee discontinues his education now to persue professional soccer, and if he fails, there will be quite a challenge for him to go back to school. The Dream of Conquering The World Youth Championship 2005 Two days prior to the departure of the US U-20 for Holland, Mr. Pham's family held a party for Lee Nguyen. At the party, Lee gave his parents and little sister each a present he bought during his training in California. "I love and worry about my parents so much. Whenever I have to go away for tournaments or training, I always have gifts for my family. If I have spare time, I'll call them. Each time my mom would ask me about everything..." said Lee. Lee said that being at The World Youth Championship in Holland was "the most wonderful dream" in his life. It's because he was still having an injured shoulder just a few weeks prior to the last training sessions of the U-20. "I was so sad knowing that I was injured. While sinking in disappointment, I got a call from coach Sigi Schmid. He said that he wanted to have me in the training camp and rehab when I was there. And the miracle had happened...Now my dream is winning it all at the World Youth Championship in Holland even though our team is in a very difficult group of Argentina, Germany and Egypt.." * When you go away from home for tournaments, what do you miss most? - I miss my mom and the Vietnamese dishes she cooks. I love Vietnamese food and my mom often cooks for me. During the past 3-week training camp in California, I tried Chinese food but perhaps, I don't have a good taste for it. * How does frequently being away affect your school? - What makes me glad is that I still maintain a good record in school. But school and playing is quite tough. I have tried my best to be able to do well at both. * On the rost of the US U-20 in Holland, there's a player that draws attention world-wide, the "prodigy" Freddy Adu. How's your relationship between Lee and Freddy? - We are close friends off-field. We also have good understanding on-field. In the friendly win over Canada 2-1, I created a penalty and Adu successfully converted it. One interesting thing is for the last 2 years, Adu has always been the one who takes penalties and never failed to convert one. Honestly, in that game I was quite nervous as it was the first time I wore the US jersey and played right next to Adu. After the game, Adu gave me some advice on not being too tense. Just be yourself and everything will be fine. * Considered the best young Vietnamese American player in the US, do you have anything to say to young Vietnamese players? - Thank you everyone for the compliments. This is just the beginning. I have a lot to learn from experienced players. My philosophy is that "The harder you train, the better you get". * A personal question: do you have a girlfriend? - Oh, no. The reason simply is because I'm away so often. The time that I am not on the field is spent on school and homework, just to make up for those missing hours. I don't even have enough time for my family and relatives. So, "girlfriend" is still a foreign word in my head.
Trust me, this kid is the real deal. I watched him at the Disney Soccer Showcase last December and he dominated, almost singlehandedly winning the championship for his Dallas Texans. His quickness, ball control, and vision are his best attributes. Remember his name, I expect him to be a playmaker on the National Team one day.
Yeah, it cracked me up when I read it. Anyway, Lee appears to write about his own experience at the WYC for TuoiTre. http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=83266&ChannelID=14. I'll do more translation if anyone is interested.
http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=83266&ChannelID=14 The World Youth Championship: A Deserved Win for the US. by Lee Nguyen The US U-20 team opened the World Youth Championship campaign with a win 1-0 over one of the heaviest favorites of the tournament Argentina at Arke (Enschede). I did not play in this match as our coach Sigi Schmid opted to for a defensive lineup. This was a tactically obligatory choice since Argentina was considered to be better than us on almost all front. In fact, what happened on the field had indicated that Argentina controlled the match better with several missed chances, especially in the second half. Howerver, the combination of the Argentine rushing to score and the excellence of our goal keeper Westberg Quentin forced Argentina to bitterly leave the field empty-handed. My teammate, "prodigy" Freddy Adu, received a lot praises after the match. Our counter-attack tactics with Adu up-front had caused Argentine defense to stumble several times. I felt a bit sorry for Adu to miss the penalty kick in the second half. Though we won the match, I know Adu was quite disappointed in missing it as for the last two years, he'd never failed to convert one. Holland is full of festive atmosphere during the World Youth Championship. Wherever I go, I hear people talk about the tournament. However, this is also the chance to be ripped off. Travelling to Holland to give me his support, my dad constantly complained. At the hotel he stays, using the internet for 10 minutes costs 5 euros. He tried to step outside to get a cheaper deal, but he was unable to find one after an hour walking around. My dad stays at a place a few hundred kilometers from our hotel. On the previous match day, he rode a train for 2 hours to Arke stadium to give me support. I am waiting to play the upcoming Germany game on 06/14. Nothing is more wonderful if I play and the US knocks down a win. LEE NGUYEN
It's cool that Lee's Vietnamese is still good enough to do this type of diary. So many second-generation kids lose their parent's language and only speak and write in English.
Lee Nguyen #14 This is the list of all U-20 players. USA players at the bottom of the list: http://www.fifa.com/documents/tournaments/u20/WYC_2005_tf-latest.txt It's a great story. This man is gonna be a great player for the USA. Hopefully he got some playing time in the game against Germany tomorrow.
My thanks, Hatrick. It will be fascinating to see what sort of coverage the USNT gets in Vietnam if/when Mr. Nguyen makes the big club or even plays in a World Cup in future years (no I'm not suggesting it or claiming he is good enough, but the coverage of him now in Vietnam is amazing enough). Glad he made the field today.
great to see #14 see some action today... my quick thoughts... + has poise with the ball, no quick (bad) decisions and not afraid to hold - short, and this was accentuated by a very tall german team - undersized, got pushed off the ball at least twice (again, physical german defense) - slow, i think this has to do with inexperience at this level. he seemed fast enough with the ball, but was slow in reacting without. overall, he seemed a little overwhelmed but was by no means embarrassing. considering who we were playing and it was his first game... i'm happy with his performance. man... i really hope he continues to progress. seeing "nguyen" on the back of that national jersey is so fvcking awesome.
It's hard to make that assessment when he was in the game 8 minutes and the other 10 guys were dragging ass all over the place. I'm going to go watch him play with Ajax Orlando later this summer.
hardly. give him some more game experience and 10-15 lbs of upperbody muscle... and he's there. he's 2-3 yrs from playing in the MLS.