Midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai honoured by AFC for amazing free-kick ability

The 23-year-old player won admiration from the AFC with a superb set-piece goal during the AFC Cup 2019 inter-zone semifinal first leg between Hanoi FC and Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr on August 20 that helped level the score at 1-1.

In an article published on its homepage today, the AFC said: “Anywhere just outside the penalty area is Nguyen Quang Hai territory and in the 2019 Inter-Zone semi-final first leg, he showed Turkmenistan's Altyn Asyr exactly what he was capable of with a delightful effort that left goalkeeper Mammet Orazmuhammedov flat-footed.”

“With Hanoi FC a goal down as half-time approached, the midfielder bent the ball around the wall to level the score with the first of his two stunning goals in a 3-2 victory for the Vietnamese champions,” it added.

It is not only now that Quang Hai’s exceptional free-kick ability has been highly lauded. There have been a number of times he broke the deadlock for the Vietnamese team as well as Hanoi FC via his awesome free-kicks. This ability is considered a very powerful weapon of the talented midfielder.

Joining Quang Hai in the AFC Cup’s top-five free-kicks are Gerald Pangkali (Persipura Jayapura FC, Indonesia vs Warriors FC, March 12, 2015), Sunil Chhetri (Bengaluru FC, India vs Maziya, May 31, 2017), Sayed Mohamed Adnan (Al Hidd, Bahrain vs Safa, April 3, 2017), and Yousef Nasser (Qadsia SC, Kuwait vs Al Suwaiq, March 12, 2019).