Following the men's football final at SEA Games 33, a fascinating trend appeared across Southeast Asian social networks, with Trần Trung Kiên, the U23 Vietnam goalkeeper, unexpectedly becoming the center of interest for Thai supporters.
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Notably, this wave of attention intensified when Pinto Hathairat, a famous Thai hot girl, publicly expressed her admiration for the U23 Vietnam goalkeeper. Pinto Hathairat, 25 years old, has over 2.4 million followers on TikTok. During SEA Games 33, she frequently posted videos supporting the Thai team, especially a clip from the men's football final that attracted more than 20 million views. Although U22 Thailand suffered a bitter defeat against U22 Vietnam on home soil, Pinto Hathairat maintained a polite and friendly attitude, even happily taking photos with Vietnamese fans, earning her great respect within the online community.
Not content with just general cheers, recently Pinto Hathairat shared a merged photo with goalkeeper Trần Trung Kiên along with a caption in English: “Who’s more handsome? You know goalkeeper Vietnam famous in Thai because he handsome” (rough translation: Who is more handsome? The Vietnamese goalkeeper is famous in Thailand because he is good-looking).
Alongside attention from key opinion leaders, Thai fans also “went crazy” over Trần Trung Kiên in a very special way. On T-pageant Club, a popular Thai beauty voting community with over 212,000 members, the U22 Vietnam goalkeeper was ranked number one in the unofficial poll for “the most handsome player of SEA Games 33.” This list was created by admin A.P.H, selecting nine prominent male faces representing the countries participating in the event, and Trần Trung Kiên quickly gained overwhelming interaction.
The poll took place right after the moment Trung Kiên exchanged jerseys with the main goalkeeper of Thailand on the field. The image capturing the 1.91m tall young keeper’s bright face and calm demeanor rapidly spread across Thai football fan pages, attracting tens of thousands of likes and praise in comments.
More importantly, the admiration from Thai supporters was not only about his appearance. Throughout the SEA Games 33 final, Trần Trung Kiên played with focus, stable reflexes, and kept a cool head under the tremendous pressure from the home crowd. This confident performance made many acknowledge that the U22 Vietnam goalkeeper is not only “handsome” but also a promising shot-stopper for the future.
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