Hậu vệ ở gần thủ môn.

Yes. They are normal football vocabulary in Vietnamese.

• hậu vệ = defender
• thủ môn = goalkeeper

They are fixed terms, not random word-for-word combinations made just for this sentence.

Vietnamese often does not use a separate verb like English is in the same way.

In Hậu vệ ở gần thủ môn, the idea of location is carried by ở, so ở gần works like is near.

So the sentence structure is naturally understood as:

• Hậu vệ = the defender
• ở gần = is near
• thủ môn = the goalkeeper

Here, ở shows location.

It often means something like:

• be at
• stay at
• live at/in

In this sentence, it means the defender is located near the goalkeeper. Because this is a football context, it means physical position on the field, not that the defender lives near the goalkeeper.

gần means near or close to.

The common pattern is:

• X ở gần Y = X is near Y

So:

• Hậu vệ = X
• thủ môn = Y

That is why thủ môn comes after gần: it is the person the defender is near.

Yes, it is quite similar.

The pattern is:

• Subject + ở gần + noun

So:

• Hậu vệ ở gần thủ môn
• The defender is near the goalkeeper

For an English speaker, this sentence is relatively straightforward in word order.

Vietnamese usually does not require articles the way English does.

A bare noun like hậu vệ can mean:

• the defender
• a defender
• sometimes even defenders

The exact meaning depends on context. English translations usually add the or a because English needs that choice more often.

If you want to be more specific in Vietnamese, you can add other words, for example:

• một hậu vệ = a defender / one defender

You usually know from context.

Vietnamese nouns do not normally change form for singular vs. plural. So hậu vệ by itself does not tell you whether it is one defender or more than one.

If you want to make it clear, you can say:

• một hậu vệ = one/a defender
• các hậu vệ = the defenders / defenders
• những hậu vệ = defenders

In your sentence, it is most naturally understood as singular because of the context and the English translation.

Sometimes Vietnamese can omit words in short, informal, or context-heavy speech, and people may still understand it. But Hậu vệ ở gần thủ môn is the clearer and more natural full sentence here.

Using ở makes the location relationship explicit.

If you want to emphasize physical position even more, you could also say:

• Hậu vệ đứng gần thủ môn = The defender is standing near the goalkeeper

No. That is a very common beginner misunderstanding.

ở can mean different things depending on context, including:

• be
• stay
• live
• be located

In this sentence, it means be located. Because the sentence is about football positions, nobody would normally understand it as The defender lives near the goalkeeper.

Say it as six syllables:

• hậu | vệ | ở | gần | thủ | môn

A few useful points:

• Vietnamese is syllable-based, so each syllable is pronounced clearly.
• Each syllable has its own tone.
• Do not try to stress one word the way English often does.

The tones matter especially in:

• hậu
• vệ
• ở
• gần
• thủ

Exact pronunciation can vary by dialect, but keeping the syllables and tones separate will help a lot.