Famous player Mai Duc Chung headed the opening score in the North-South unification match in 1976.

Exactly 50 years ago, the liberation army entered the Independence Palace, President of the Republic of Vietnam Duong Van Minh declared unconditional surrender, the South was completely liberated, and our nation's 21-year resistance war against the US to save the country officially ended.

In a televised speech on the occasion of the historic April 30th, Mr. Mai Duc Chung, a former player of the General Department of Railways Club, said: “Hearing the news that the Vietnamese national flag was flying over the Independence Palace, we, the people of the North, were very happy. Everyone poured into the streets with flags and fans. From children to adults, everyone celebrated the event of the country's complete unification. We were very happy and excited because something heavy in the country had been removed, from now on the North and South are one.”

During the reconstruction, sports in general and football in particular received great attention from the Party and the State. On September 2, 1975, the National Day of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, a match was held at Cong Hoa Stadium between Customs and Bank.

Customs was formerly the Tax Administration and the predecessor of the Bank was Vietnam Thuong Tin. Although the name has changed, the core players of the two teams are still the same, such as Ho Thanh Cang, Pham Van Lam, Do Thoi Vinh, Do Cau and Vo Thanh Son, Le Van Tam, Huong, Cau, Long, Tieu...

The South Vietnam football team won the SEAP Games in 1959 and the two teams Saigon Port and Customs were established in 1975.

In 1976, the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, then Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, proposed to build a mass sports movement, with everyone practicing and every family practicing. That year was also the first time that people in the city knew the slogan: "All people practice physical exercise following the example of great Uncle Ho".

In that context, Mr. Le Buu, who was assigned to take over and rebuild sports in the southern provinces and cities after the liberation day, came up with the idea of ​​a unification match, exchanging and learning between the two regions of the North and South. “Brother Sau Dan (former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet) asked who to invite? I said to invite the Railway team. He immediately asked why? I replied, because we were preparing to build a railway from North to South, from South to North, so that football team represented the solidarity of the working class.

Mr. Sau asked again: "So which team will that team play against? I suggested playing against Saigon Port team, because this is also a team of the working class, and the biggest team in the South", Mr. Le Buu, former Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, recalled.

The General Department of Railways team, including famous player Mai Duc Chung (standing row, 6th from left).

Founded by railway workers, the General Department of Railways soon rose to become one of the leading teams in the North and was often chosen to represent Vietnamese football in international friendlies. At that time, the team was on a tour of eight Chinese provinces.

“While in China, we received instructions from our superiors to return to carry out a special mission, to play football in the South. This was also the first time I had the opportunity to go to Ho Chi Minh City. However, I was also worried and couldn’t sleep, how to make a good impression on the people of the South,” former coach Tran Duy Long, who was then leading the General Department of Railways Club, shared with Tien Phong newspaper reporters.

Then the military flight 11.12 also landed at Tan Son Nhat airport. The atmosphere was filled with emotion when the two captains, Pham Huynh Tam Lang of Saigon Port and Pham Van Lam of Customs, went to the airport terminal to welcome their colleagues from the North. Their hug was not only between people who admired each other's talents but had just met, it was also the hug of brotherhood and compatriot love.

According to Mr. Mai Duc Chung, quoted by Thesefootballtimes, “we were all eager to see Saigon because no one had ever been here, only heard that it was the Paris of the East”. The people in the South were also curious about what the players from the North looked like. Mr. Mai Duc Chung said that when he and his teammates stepped onto the training field, many spectators rushed to rub their hands and feet, then kept exclaiming “why are you guys so young, strong, handsome, and scholarly?”

The Railway General Department football team and images of the historic match at Thong Nhat Stadium in 1976.

“There were many things that impressed us, because it was our first trip to the South, but the one that left the deepest impression was the affection of the people,” Mr. Tran Duy Long recalled, “People admired us so much. They kept hugging us and saying, ‘Why are the young men from the North so tall, white, and so good at playing soccer?’”

According to Mr. Tran Duy Long, during the war years, although the country faced many difficulties, the Party and the State still paid great attention to the development of football, ready to create the best conditions. Therefore, the players in the North were slightly better in terms of physique than the players in the South. Central defender Le Khac Chinh of Duong Sat said: "At that time, our team had quite even height, almost everyone was over 1m70. On the contrary, the players from Saigon looked smaller."

In the excitement of everyone, plus the long-standing “starvation” for football, the people of Ho Chi Minh City quickly flooded Cong Hoa, the stadium that would soon be renamed Thong Nhat. The capacity of 25,000 people was clearly not enough. Although the match started at 7:30 p.m. on November 7, 1976, by 2 p.m., the stadium was filled with 40,000 spectators, forcing the entrance to the stadium to close at 3 p.m. The spectators spilled out into the hallways and filled the pitch.

Images of the North-South match in front of a packed audience at Thong Nhat Stadium.

“I have never played in such an atmosphere, it felt like the audience was about to storm the stadium,” said the Royal player of Duong Ray. “When the whistle blew, we knew that the fans were still trying to get through the gate. Outside, the police had to fire into the air to restore order.”

The match was also interesting because of the difference in football styles. Saigon Port played with a flexible 4-2-4 formation, favoring short and quick passes following the philosophy of coach Flavio Costa who led the team in the 1950s. Meanwhile, Duong Sat coach Tran Duy Long studied at the Kiev Sports Academy so he stuck with the 4-3-3 system, playing long balls and focusing on physicality.

There are also promising confrontations between football stars from the two regions. Mai Duc Chung will have to find a way to overcome Pham Huynh Tam Lang; Tran Van Xinh and Tu Le will also have to do the same with Le Khac Chinh; and in midfield, Muoi "xiu" and Duong Van Tha will face Le Thuy Hai and Pham Ky Thuy.

Mr. Tran Duy Long and coach Mai Duc Chung at Hang Day Stadium in the historic days of April 2025. (Photo: Khuat Tu)

“Those years were a prosperous time for socialist football. Northern teams were also heavily influenced by Eastern European football and played modern football. In addition, when I went to the South, I had friendly journalists. They provided information about southern teams, from people to playing style, so that I could build a reasonable strategy,” said coach Tran Duy Long.

According to Mr. Chung, he scored the first goal of the match by running up and jumping high to head the ball after a cross from the right wing by his teammate Minh Diem. The second goal was a masterpiece, when midfielder Le Thuy Hai kicked the ball very hard from near the center arc into the net. The late famous player Le Thuy Hai once told about this situation: “I got the ball from the middle of the field, turned back and saw center back Tam Lang standing tall. After a moment of hesitation, because goalkeeper Luu Kim Hoang had come out, I pulled my leg back and kicked really hard from a distance of 40m, the ball drew a curve and went into the top corner of the goal.”

The Railway team won 2-0 in the end, but as said, winning or losing is not important. The players of both teams hugged each other amidst the loud cheers of the fans. There was a moment that, according to Mr. Mai Duc Chung, both the players and the fans could never forget. That was when the players of both teams held hands and sang the song "As if Uncle Ho were here on the day of great victory". Everyone was happy, moved and choked up for a long time.

Mr. Tran Duy Long is on the list of "Golden players of 50 years of Vietnamese football", having been associated with the Vietnam National Team for many years as head coach and assistant coach, then becoming Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation for the 2008-2012 term.

Former coach Tran Duy Long said that the Railway team did not only play one match. During that journey, he and his students went on a tour in many southern provinces with the aim of connecting and bringing joy to the people.

“After the war, the physical facilities were still very rudimentary,” said the person who later made great contributions to the development of Ho Chi Minh City football as well as the Vietnam National Team. “In my memory, only Thong Nhat Stadium, Can Tho or Tien Giang were big, other places only had a few A stands, the rest was empty land. Playing in Sa Dec, Dong Thap, the field was all sand, the stands were car roofs, with ladders and chairs piled all around. But the affection was immense. The North and the South were very close.”

Another memorable detail for Coach Tran Duy Long and the Railway team was the meals during the tour in the South. “The weather there was very hot,” he shared, “So the team always wanted to have sour soup and braised snakehead fish. The Railway team loved these two dishes. Having traveled to many places, I realized that Southern cuisine is wonderful.”

Mr. Tran Duy Long took a souvenir photo at the friendly tournament to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the first national football championship (1980).

Perhaps that is why Coach Tran Duy Long has been associated with Ho Chi Minh City for 41 years, since 1984 when he was invited by Mr. Le Buu to develop the football movement in the South. On the occasion of going to Hanoi to organize a friendly tournament to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the first national football championship (1980), he came to Hanoi, giving me the opportunity to meet him.

During the days when the whole country was jubilantly welcoming the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, recalling the North-South match nearly half a century ago, he said that it was a performance of solidarity, dispelling doubts and bringing people from both regions closer together. Regarding football, this match laid the foundation for the development of the country's football during the reunification period.

“Time passes, many historical witnesses of that match are still alive and some are gone. However, that day at Thong Nhat Stadium will forever be remembered in the minds of fans and in the history of the whole nation,” the 84-year-old coach said emotionally.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/chuyen-chua-ke-ve-tran-cau-thong-nhat-bac-nam-sau-ngay-non-song-lien-mot-dai-post1738699.tpo