Xuan Hen - "Brother" Xuan Son: From Barcelona, about to stir up Vietnamese football

Since the summer of 2023, when Nguyen Xuan Son was still Rafaelson Fernandes, the story of naturalization for him and Hendrio da Silva was mentioned in the press.

At that time, Xuan Son and Hendrio were both the best players in V-League playing for Nam Dinh and Binh Dinh clubs.

Their advantage has only increased since Hendrio went to Nam Dinh to reunite with his compatriot, together helping Nam Dinh win the 2023/04 V-League championship.

In early 2024, Nam Dinh FC discussed naturalization for both Brazilian stars to turn them into domestic players. There were obstacles for Xuan Son and Hendrio because after each V-League season, they flew back to Brazil for a while. However, by the end of last year, Xuan Son had achieved enough continuous residence time in Vietnam to become an official citizen.

Both Xuan Son and Hendrio have been eager to play for the Vietnam national team for nearly 2 years, although at that time, the conflicting opinions about the use of naturalized foreign players still made it difficult for them to have a chance to make a breakthrough. With the success of the Vietnam national team and Xuan Son at the AFF Cup 2024, the opportunity may open up for Hendrio to create a formidable duo with his friend for the third time.

Hendrio, a former member of Barcelona's famous La Masia academy, is not a great striker like Xuan Son. He plays as a midfielder or a second striker.

The success of the Xuan Son - Hendrio pair in Nam Dinh comes from the fact that they fulfill different roles: Xuan Son is big and strong, plays aggressively and operates close to the goal, while Hendrio is more technical and creative with the ability to make passes to create opportunities.

Vietnam National Team is expected to benefit from using Hendrio. In return, Coach Kim Sang Sik will need to change his personnel diagram. However, Hendrio's level is rated quite high compared to the stars in V-League, so Coach Kim will not have big problems with adjusting the diagram.

Tien Linh, Tuan Hai, and Van Toan may not get to play much when Hendrio is present, but competition in sports will inevitably lead to selection, with more tactical options like Mr. Kim successfully used in the 2024 AFF Cup.

Story of the future

Many Vietnamese football fans are excited about the possibility of Hendrio becoming a naturalized citizen, even thinking about a Vietnamese name for him. Rafaelson has become "Xuan Son" and brought a spring atmosphere, like "luck" for the Vietnam National Team, maybe Hendrio should take the name "Xuan Hen" so that the Vietnam National Team will be both lucky and lucky?

However, we will have to wait another year. Hendrio has only lived in Vietnam for nearly 4 years and is expected to be eligible for naturalization in early 2026. At least, Hendrio has learned Vietnamese and communicates well with his teammates, so when enough time has passed, his application for naturalization will be considered by the competent authorities.

However, by then Hendrio will be almost 32 years old and VFF will have to re-evaluate Hendrio's form before discussing calling him up to the national team. A player's life is full of uncertainties, and we still don't know how Xuan Son will be after recovering from his current injury.

At the time Hendrio was naturalized, how the VFF decided on the policy of calling up naturalized players is also a matter to discuss. Xuan Son was successful because the Vietnamese national team rarely had a native striker who reached the level of excellence in the region. Hendrio is not a striker, should the VFF naturalize him for a position that domestic football has talented players to meet the demand?

All of these factors will influence the final decision regarding the next naturalized player to appear in the Vietnam national team. Nothing is certain in the case of Hendrio, so the story of Xuan Son playing with him in the national team will have to wait until next year to continue discussing.

Xuan Son is "sculpted", causing a stir with fried bananas, now with cakes Minh Lợi17:08:26 09/01/2025The artisans have just created 3D sculpture cakes from the model of Nguyen Xuan Son on the occasion of the Vietnam national team winning the ASEAN Cup 2024, at the same time sending wishes for health and encouragement to the male player.