Seems like you forgot Vietnamese stars: LÊ CÔNG VINH: Vietnam no.1 striker. He is stil young (22) but has showing his potential and be regarded as the perfect descendant of veteran Le Huynh Duc and the make people forget the "golden boy" Pham Van Quyen. Scoring 15 goals in 22 appearance for both Olympic and National Team. Key players for Olympic squad's success this year. (He scores against Oman, Lebanon in the 2nd group stage). Unlike Quyen and Duc, he prefer number 9 than 10 at the NT. PHAN VĂN TÀI EM: Creative and hard-working midfielder. He has scored against South Korea in the World Cup qualifying round. He and his team-mate Nguyen Minh Phuong had helped Dong Tam Long An protected the V-League Tittle last year. NGUYỄN MINH PHƯƠNG: No.1 midfielder of VietNam NT. He may not become the descendant of the famous star Nguyen Hong Son, but he has become an un-replaceable part of VietNam team. Other Vietnamese stars in the past: (We call them the "Golden Era" of VN - from 1995 to 2002) Trần Minh Quang (GK) Lê Hùynh Đức (FW) Nguyễn Hồng Sơn (MF) Văn Sỹ Hùng (FW) Trương Việt Hòang (MF) Triệu Quang Hà (MF) ---- The Stone Wall of South East Asia ----(Name in Tiger Cup 1998 and SEAGAMES 20) Trần Công Minh (RB) Đỗ Văn Khải (SW) Phạm Như Thuần (CB) Mai Tiến Dũng (CB) Nguyễn Đức Thắng (LB) Since the Golden Era retired, Vietnam is coming back with another era. I hope this era will bring back the tittle to Vietnam.
in Philippines there are many players playing in top league like phil and james younghusband who are came from chelsea, rob gier who still playing in aston villa, etheridge the second goalkeeper of fulham, Schrock who is the reason why Greutheur Furth is in number 1 in 2 bundesliga, ingreso who play in hamburger sv... Cagara who plays in Lyngby, Lucena who plays in Aarhus GF, Paul Mulders who play in ADO hen Haag, Jaon De Jong who plays in Dordrecht, Roland Muller who plays in MSV Duisburg
Rob Gier playing in Aston Villa ? really... I dont consider this Fil-European as the best from this region, not yet. Until i see them play against Thailand then i will judge them. My favourite player from South East Asia Past- Fandi Ahmad, Kiatisuk senamuang, Kurniawan dwi Julianto, Current- Datsakorn thonglao, Ahmad Bustomi, Lee chong vinh and Aleksandar Duric. Cheers
rob gier played in wimbledon(2000-04) when it was still in the 2nd tier in England just below the Premiership. Now at the later stages of his career, he is in the lower leagues with Ascot United as a semi pro player, who also owns his own business. As for the other players, despite their pedigree in the top tiers in Europe, unless the Azkals starts winning tournaments in SEA, they indeed still have to prove their case. Unfortunately it is hard to have them released as unlike Indonesia, they stay with their European clubs and not move to clubs in SEA. As for now, the Philippines had just rediscovered its passion for football, so let us not go overboard until the country has developed a fully professional league, that can match those of our neighbors and complement our Fil-Euros.
Hmm, Thonglao, good player, for me never quite does it when I really need him to do it. Marking him out of 10 for me he's always a 6,6,6,9,6,6,8 kind of player whereas the players never noticed are the ones who constantly get 8 out of 10. Ahmad Bustomi - not got a clue who he is, can you enlighten me Lee Cong Vinh - Big name in Vietnam, like a Beckham status and like Thonglao, good on paper, he did deliver at 2008 AFF Championship, but never heard much noise from him since. Someone to look up to in your team though. Duric - For a player not from South East Asia but commited to SEA he is good. Very old (must be about 60 now) but a player the young lads can look upto. The lifestyle, the fitness, the desire is still there. Impecable condition and still wants it. Would have been good to have seen himself be more tested in his early 30's in a Vietnam or Thai league.
Piyapong Pue-on is my all-time favorite player from SEA. He was a top scorer of K-League and scored 100 international goals for Thailand.
lol.... they will not play in that kind of club if they are no good players.... there are many Filipino players makes history in football like Paulino Alcantara who played in FC Barcelona with 357 out of 357 matches.... here is the link for you: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/club/historia/jugadors_de_llegenda/alcantara.html so stop so stop making funny comments......
Fandi Ahmad played for Groningen FC and he even scored against Inter milan in UEFA cup, Kurniawan also played in Sampdoria and was with the Sampdoria asia tour back in the 90s. In case you dont know, the reason why many SEA players not many are playing in Europe, because of the culture shock and being away from family are really the biggest problem for some of this asean players. Unlike your Fil-european players who were born, raised and still living in the Europe, its not a problem for them to adapt. May i ask you, how long you've been following ASEAN football? since your "AZKALS" entered the semifinal of Suzuki cup? Cheers
Ahmad Bustomi is a defensive midfielder played previously for Arema Malang, hes also the backbone of Indonesian national team. I thought he supposed to the Indonesia man of the match during Suzuki cup,not Firman utina. If you know Jakarta casual, this Ahmad bustomi is The jakarta casual player of the year candidate Drury, the reason i like Datsakorn is because he always scored when his team really need someone to score, for example during MTU vs Sriwijaya FC play off in AFC champion league, he scored the freekick to level the score 1-1. Also during WCQ round 2 against Palestine. I dont know but thats just my opinion about him, you know better when it comes to Thai player Cheers
I know what you mean there, it's just he doesn't for his reputation always deliver. When the teams is struggling and need a leader he can sometimes hide. On the other hand, your right he can be a match winner aswell. It's great when he can deliver like that, but when he doesn' it's annoying, but I guess thats because no one else rises to the occasion.
For me the best ASEAN player of all time is Paulino Alcantara of Philippines, second place Fandi Ahmad, 3rd is Kurniawan. About Thonglao, one thing for sure he is one the best free kick taker in ASEAN. Here is my list of current top players in ASEAN: Safee Salee (Malaysia) Boaz Salossa (Indonesia) Ahmad Bustomi (Indonesia) Muhammad Ilham (Indonesia) Safiq Rahim (Malaysia) Suree Sukha(Thailand) Datsakorn Thonglao(Thailand) Teerathep Winothai(Thailand) Terdsak Chaiman (Thailand) Kawin (Thailand) Alexander Duric (Singapore) Paul Mulder (Philippines) Le Cong Vinh (Vietnam)
tatotop, Just wanted to mention that the best current Philippine player from abroad is Stefan Schroeck who plays currently for Greuther Furth which leads the 2nd Bundesliga and is one of their best players. He has played for the German youth teams from the U-18 to U-20 level alongside Mezut Ozil, etc. and was offered contracts several times in the past to play in the top tier Bundesliga except that he wanted to help his local team get promoted to the top tier instead so he stayed and this year he might just help them get there. After Schroeck, the next best current player is Dennis Cagara who has played for the Danish national youth teams every year from the U-16 level to the U-21 level and was supposed to play for their senior team as well until a series of injuries derailed his career. He has already played in the Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin back in 2004 and 2005 before those injuries took their toll. He is currently the starting left back for Danish top tier Lyngby FC. Paul Mulders is okay and came through the Ajax academy system but was never considered one of the top players in Holland at any age level unlike the two players above. This year is his first year in the top tier Eredivisie club, ADO Den Haag but he is not a starter and relatively old(31). As for the all time best player, I agree that the best Asian player(not just SE Asian) is Philippine born and raised Paulino Alcantara, who holds the record for most goals scored(357 in 357 matches) in all competitions for Barcelona FC and has played for both the Philippine and Spanish men's national teams. After that the players from SEA with the best pedigree in Europe in the past are from Indonesia and Thailand.
To add to the above list at #3, I have to mention Neil Etheridge, our starting goalkeeper, who is the backup goalkeeper for English premiership club Fulham. He played for the English boy's U-16 team when he was younger before he decided to commit to the Philippines at the age of 18. He played against Indonesia in the Suzuki Cup last year and was instrumental for the Azkal's surprise showing in that competition.
Is this for players who play or have played for a SEA country that could considered? Or for players who are actually FROM a SEA country as per the thread title? The Philippines for example, have a lot of half Europeans but aren't exactly FROM the Philippines.
I guess we could have both?? One player who wasn't born in SEA but has made a good player in SEA for me is TOT's Kone Mohammed. Won titles for Krung Thai Bank, Chonburi, Munagthong United and Yadnarbon. He has a Thai passport which is more or less unheard of for a none-Thai and over on a Thai forum I visit we have discussed his use in the national team. He would have been a good target man a few years ago but the domestic league has grown up with him and better players are now comign through.
I was addressing tatotop's listing of Mulders. I just wanted to mention that there were 3 other players from the Philippine team who had better credentials than him. We are both interested in each other players whether sourced locally or abroad.
Drury, I have a question regarding M. Kone. The fact that he has Thai passport, that means he is eligible for Thai NT right? I also heard rumors that one of Indo club is highly interested in him.
I don't know how it works, it would suggest that he could play,Thailand have used Thai players who were born abroad and had never set foot in Thailand before such as Peter Laeng, but with Mohammed it's different cos he not Thai in anyway, just been there a long time. I don't think he has ever been approached (no one wants to be the guy who upsets the apple cart doing this) and he has never made it known that he wants to play aswell.
If he stays in Thailand for five years continuously, then he can play for the NT and i think he will be good addition for Thai National team. Btw the Indonesian club that approached him is Mitra Kukar FC, but the club no longer pursue him. Btw what happen with Peter Lang? is he still in Thailand right now? Cheers
Peter Lang is still there with Bangkok Glass, he's had some weird injury problem with his leg for a long while now. But many people I speak to see better players than him but because he played in Europe it seems to make people think he's on a different level. Not the case. Kone went to play in Myanmar (last year) I guess this rules out 5 years continuously in his case.
oh c'mon philippines is starting to love this sport but they already made it to semi-finals of aff uzuki cup without a homeground, how much more if they have a match here in the philippines.... and i don't care to that player if he score in uefa cup, that player can't comparable to alcantara, that's only a one goal... not like alcantara who breaks the soccer net against france.... he is real legend of fc barcelona. BEFORE MESSI, INIESTA, XAVI, DANI ALVES theres Alcantara..... until now he is the highest goal scorer of fc barcelona's history and add that to your knowledge
Sorry about the over enthusiastic Azkal supporter. We just rediscovered our passion for the sport and we still have a long way to go. Finally we have a league where we can develop our local players but it will take some time before we can catch up with our neighbors. In the meantime ASEAN as a whole needs to improve to compete with the other regions in Asia. The best way to do that is to expose the national teams in our region to a higher level of play on a consistent basis, so hopefully all our European based players in the region will provide that and help in the transfer of skills and knowhow to their local counterparts.