ENGLISH striker and the world’s tallest footballer Kyle Hudlin scored twice on his debut in Vietnam.
Hudlin, 25, who stands at a whopping 6ft 9in, joined Vietnamese outfit Thep Xanh Nam Dinh last month.
The centre-forward came off the bench on Saturday and netted a brace in the Vietnamese Super Cup against CAHN.
The ex-Huddersfield ace first scored his team’s equaliser with a header on 54 minutes.
The former AFC Wimbledon player also hit the target from the penalty spot in the 15th minute of stoppage time.
But Hudlin couldn’t help his team win the trophy as they suffered a 3-2 loss.
The Brit started his career at Castle Vale Town in Birmingham before getting his big break at Solihull Moors in 2020.
The striker moved to Huddersfield two years later and that led to three loan stints.
Hudlin played for Wimbledon, Burton Albion and Newport County before moving to Vietnam.
And he didn’t have it easy as he opened up to SunSport about his tough upbringing three years ago.
Early interest from academies such as West Brom was scuppered with both his parents working and unable to get him to and from training.
The alternative was men’s football in the local leagues aged just 16, while learning all about physicality by playing street football with his uncles.
But his immense height at such a young age came with disadvantages.
Hudlin said: “Coaches thought I had just one bow to my game. I got played as a centre-back just because I was big.
“But growing up, I always had the ball at my feet, doing a skill. I haven’t trained as a big guy and I haven’t had that academy training.
“I have always been around the small technical players and you have to drop a skill in there.
“I would watch the likes of Ronaldinho, Robinho, Neymar, [Lionel] Messi, [Cristiano] Ronaldo – his heading attributes is like he is a big guy.”
When he was finally trusted as a striker at 17, Hudlin’s inspirations matured and he admired the likes of Peter Crouch, Olivier Giroud and Tammy Abraham.
He added: “You will get furthest in this game by building your own identity though.
“I want young players to be looking up to me and wanting to be like Kyle Hudlin.”
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