By ZAC CRAIN, Front Burner
I remember first noticing Lee Nguyen a few years ago, when ESPN Magazine ran an infographic listing the highest-paid athletes in every country. Nguyen was the highest-paid athlete in Vietnam, and the note next to his name mentioned he was from here. Through a mutual friend, we ended up talking on the phone, and I had planned on doing a story expanding on what it was like for him to be a star in Vietnam. But shortly after that, he came back to the United States. Which is where this story picks up.
New England Revolution professional soccer player Lee Nguyen attend a Budweiser World Cup viewing party At Boston’s Paradise Rock Club on June 16, 2014 in Boston, MA. (Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
Lee Nguyen could do almost anything he wanted on the field in Vietnam. But getting to the bus after the game was another story.
The scene looks something like this: He exits the locker room following a game in the Vietnamese Super League, and bedlam ensues. He can’t go around the wall of fans assembled there to adore him, he has to go right through it.
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