Nguyen Van Hieu has been selected as one among their list of ‘Five youngsters illuminating Lithuania’ by FIFA before the 1/8 round officially kicked off today with the match between Vietnam and the current world runner-up Russia.

Nguyen Van Hieu (left) was voted as one of the five best young players at the 2021 Futsal World Cup. Photo: FIFA

“Ready for an astonishing fact? When the last FIFA Futsal World Cup took place, Van Hieu had never even played the sport. He took it up in 2018, was a Vietnam international just 12 months later, and is now dazzling at Lithuania 2021,” FIFA stated.

FIFA commented that the winger looks like a schoolboy had old pros feeling their age on Matchday 5.

“Van Hieu thwarted a Panama attack with an excellent tackle inside his own half, whizzed the length of the court, shrugged off two challenges, rounded the goalkeeper and cut the ball from an acute angle,” FIFA describes the goal scored by Van Hieu in the match against Panama on September 16.

Hieu’s goal helped Vietnam win 3-2 against Panama in the second game of the group stage. According to local experts, it was an amazing solo effort as Hieu started from midfield and dribbled past two Panama players and the keeper to finish in the open net.

Hieu played at the futsal match between Vietnam and Panama on September 16. Photo: VFF

FIFA also quoted Vietnamese coach Pham Minh Giang that Van Hieu is the talent of Vietnamese futsal. “His playing philosophy is very up-to-date. He is a very promising player,” he said.

The other four footballers in the Top Five young talents given by FIFA are Yousef Jouad (Morocco), Leozinho (Brazil), Nishonov (Uzbekistan), and Zicky (Portugal).

Van Hieu will join the Vietnamese futsal team to conquer the 1/8 round of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021 with a match against the defending runner-up Russia which will take place at 9.30pm today (September 22).

In the last encounter with Russia of the 1/8 round of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2016, the Vietnamese team lost  0-7.

With a squad consisting of many young but experienced players, the match between these two teams is promising to be a drastic one of this year's FIFA Futsal World Cup.

The FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021 has ended the exciting and dramatic group stage fight, in which the Vietnamese team excellently drew 1-1 with the Czech Republic to win a ticket to the 1/8 round.