Hot summer day

It was just after 5am but the summer sun was already harsh, making the space stuffy. The bright sunlight penetrated through the canopy of trees and shone on the window bars, waking Hao up. Last night, the village had a power outage, making everyone panic. Especially the men and boys who were watching the EURO 2024 football match when the TV suddenly turned off. Everyone was frustrated because it was both hot and regretful that they couldn't watch the exciting match. They kept going back and forth from the street to the house. Unable to sleep, the men gradually gathered in groups at the end of the alley, chatting animatedly about football. It wasn't until almost dawn that they dispersed. It had been a long time since Hao had a night of almost staying up all night with the men of the village.

Hao's trip back to his hometown this time was part of the annual reunion of his high school classmates, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his graduation. It was an even year, so everyone was excited. A few months ago, his friends who were doing business and working all over the North and South had been eagerly making appointments and making dates on Zalo and Facebook. Yesterday afternoon, Hao left the store to his wife to look after and took the opportunity to bring his child along, both to visit his grandparents and to give his child a chance to experience a summer day in the countryside. It had been a long time since Hao had felt this relaxed.

Suddenly, there was a commotion of children, followed by loud shouts from the village entrance. It turned out that the children had invited each other to play soccer. According to Hao's mother, since the summer vacation, the children had played soccer every day, one match in the morning and one match in the evening. The children were all shirtless and barefoot, and it seemed that they did not feel tired even though their limbs were scarred, and many places had not yet had time to heal.

The noise of more than a dozen eleven and twelve year old children kicking and cheering each other woke up many people living nearby. The children were engrossed in their game when they suddenly stopped when they saw Mrs. Mo running out.

- You devils, go play somewhere else. I've been telling you for so long, are you guys breaking down my gate?

Hao was familiar with Mrs. Mo's sarcastic tone because when he was young, he was close friends with Manh - her eldest son. Every time he and Manh and the other children in the village came home late from school because they were too busy playing soccer, bathing in the river, or skipping naps to look for bird nests on bamboo trees, Mrs. Mo would run to find them and scold them like that. When Manh grew up, he went to work in South Korea and then settled down there. He recently sent money back to his parents to build the most beautiful house in the village. The house was beautiful from the gate to the entrance. It was said that the gate alone cost more than one hundred million VND. Of which, the shiny stainless steel door with elaborate curved patterns cost nearly fifty million VND. Mrs. Mo cleaned that gate regularly so it was always shiny. Every day, when she opened or closed it, she was very gentle, extremely careful, and quiet. A small sound when the gate accidentally hit the wall would make her startled and exclaim.

But the children did not play anywhere, they just dragged each other to the road in front of her house to kick the ball noisily. Many times they were so engrossed in playing that they accidentally stepped on the ball, causing the ball to fly unintentionally, hitting the gate with a "bing...bing" sound, making the whole block of stainless steel shake violently.

“Go play somewhere else,” Mrs. Mo’s words kept echoing in Hao’s head. But there was nowhere else to play soccer. The old warehouse yard had been divided and rented out to grow crops. There were many vehicles passing by on the big road. The village was now concreted…

Hao belongs to the “late 7X” generation, the same age as nearly twenty other people in the village. He grew up when the village began to change after the subsidy was abolished, but many “relics” remained, associated with the childhood of his generation, such as the cooperative warehouse yard. The warehouse yard is located in the middle of the village, about five thousand square meters wide, paved with old fired bricks, each brick surface is smooth and shiny. The warehouse yard was used for the female and male members of the cooperative to tie their buffaloes after each plowing session and was the place to collect rice and straw after each harvest. Then there were the oxcarts, wheelbarrows, modified vehicles... also left lying around, left to be eroded by the rain and sun.

After the day the fields and gardens were transferred to each household, the yard was abandoned. Then the bricks were gradually stripped off and carried back to build houses, kitchens, and pave alleys... Therefore, the yard became a soccer field for the village children. The balls were made of straw stuffed in a basket woven from jute or a bunch of rags rolled up and neatly tied, although not very round, they still rolled with Hao and his friends from day to day.

The EURO 1992 football tournament further fueled the children’s love for the round ball. At that time, the entire Hao village only had a black and white battery-powered TV owned by Mr. Lu’s family - the richest man in the village. Every night, men and children crowded the yard at his house to watch football. Especially the children, they loved football so much that they forgot to eat and sleep, talking all day about the matches and the players. And wherever they went, they would loudly sing “More than a game” - the song of EURO 1992, even though many of them sang the wrong music and lyrics.

At that time, Hao's father went to the city and bought his son a leather ball. Hao was very happy and proud of his friends. He carried the ball with him everywhere he went, and when he slept, he put the ball under his bed as if he was afraid it would roll away. The children were used to playing with straw, cloth or plastic balls. For the first time in their lives, they were all excited. Hao felt very proud and important when he held the ball in his hand and divided the team into groups and assigned positions to each child.

One day, the village players' soccer match was going on enthusiastically when suddenly Hao bent down, hugged the ball, then called everyone closer and presented an idea:

- Now, to make our match more “cool”, I think each of us should choose a nickname for ourselves, which is the name of a favorite player from the teams participating in the EURO tournament that is taking place! As for me, I choose the nickname Hao “Bergkamp” (Bergkamp - Netherlands team).

Everyone enthusiastically agreed. Thanh took the nickname “Papin” (France team), Hung was Hung “Matthaus” (Germany team), Thinh had dark skin and curly hair so he took the nickname Thinh “Rai-cac” (Rijkaard - Netherlands team), Canh, who was tall, gave himself the name Canh “Voller” (Germany team), Manh chose the nickname “Koeman” (Netherlands team)... So, the barefoot players of the village all had the names of world-famous football players.

Dung, on the other hand, was still struggling to choose a nickname for himself. He turned to look at Hao and said to the group, pouting:

- I also like... Beckam. Besides, I'm tall and thin like this famous player!

- But I score more goals than you so I'm more like Beckam. Choose another name, Hao argued.

Dung refused and stormed off. But when he reached the corner of the yard, he thought for a moment and quickly turned back.

- Okay, that's fine. I'll choose Larsen (Denmark team).

Then everyone laughed happily and rushed to fight with the ball, even though many of them had torn soles of their feet from broken pieces of pottery or torn toenails or skinned knees...

Over the years, the love for football grew with the children in the village, but in the end, for many reasons, only Hao was determined to stick with it. After graduating from high school, Hao was admitted to the Football Department of the University of Physical Education and Sports. And then, because of his passion, Hao tore his ligament while fighting for the ball with a friend during a class. After the surgery, Hao was advised by the doctor to leave the football field forever. It was truly a shock in his life when he had to give up his dream of "shorts and jersey" that he had nurtured for many years.

Never before had Hao felt so discouraged. He sadly asked to keep his study results and returned home to recuperate. The following year, Hao returned to school but had to transfer to the Table Tennis Department. After graduating, Hao was accepted into the Youth and Children's Culture and Sports Center of the province, in charge of table tennis. To nurture his love for sports while his salary was still low, Hao had to open additional training courses outside or referee at "street football" fields to earn extra income. Then the EURO 2004 season came along with a turning point in Hao's life. Due to being enticed, he joined a nationwide betting ring. The investigation agency concluded that Hao was involved in the case at a low level. Although he was not prosecuted, he had to leave the agency.

That stumble seemed to end Hao's love for football and sports, but no, he was determined to stay in the city to continue nurturing his passion. Hao rented a kiosk near the city stadium and opened a sports equipment store.

The business is increasingly favorable thanks to the increasingly vibrant sports movement. Since getting married, Hao has expanded his supply network. After nearly twenty years of focusing on business, he and his wife have bought a house on the street, bought a car and accumulated a fair amount of capital. When the economy is more than enough, Hao also pursues another passion: collecting sports items. Hao always cherishes the plan to build a small football museum, both to satisfy his passion and to serve those who love this sport.

After the class reunion, Hao did not return to the city immediately because he had an important matter to attend to in the village. He leisurely walked towards the old warehouse yard, now lush with corn and potatoes, and childhood memories kept flooding back to Hao. He pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned back and walked towards Mr. Tu's house in the same village - the one who was renting the garden that was a corner of the old warehouse yard.

- What did you say? You are doing business on the street, why do you want to rent my garden?, Mr. Tu asked in surprise.

- Yes. I want to open a soccer field for the children in my village to play.

- Just to make a soccer field for children?, Mr. Tu looked doubtful.

- If possible, I would like to send you the land use tax and annual crop tax.

- But remember, that garden land is still owned by the commune, they have the right to take it away at any time. You invested in it, when the government takes it away, you have no right to demand compensation.

- Yes. I understand that. Each year, each year.

Then the procedure for transferring the right to use the garden was quickly completed. That same afternoon, Hao hired an excavator to level the garden, creating a soccer field over a thousand square meters wide.²He also asked someone to buy more than a dozen long, straight bamboo trees to erect along the boundary line around the soccer field.

The opening of the soccer field surprised everyone as if it was something strange. Many villagers came out to watch. They talked excitedly. Many people admired Hao, but some were skeptical, saying that he opened the field to make money. Some even curled their lips, thinking that he was being pretentious and that his pride was not right. There were so many things to worry about in life, why would someone be so stupid as to spend money to build a playground for children... Whatever people said, Hao didn't care. Seeing the children happily running around the field made Hao happy.

Early the next morning, Hao drove back to the city and in the early afternoon, he returned to the village, eagerly awaited by the children. He instructed the children to set up ladders, hang nets on bamboo poles surrounding the soccer field, then draw lines and erect goals. Hao gave each child a pair of sneakers and a brand new set of shorts and jerseys and released several round, full balls on the field. When he was done, he called the children to gather:

- From now on, this soccer field belongs to you, to all the children in our village. Play soccer freely, shout as much as you want. When your shoes are torn or the ball is punctured, I will bring it back. Now, let's go out to the field.

The children jumped up and down with joy. They looked at each other, all of them in their sports uniforms, running around the field. The sound of running footsteps, then shouts and cheers echoed throughout the field. The exciting summer days had just begun for the children of the village...