2 foreign players of Song Lam Nghe An have not met expectations

Nice resume

A month before the opening day of V.League 2023, the Vinh team's coach has urgently started looking for foreign players. Dozens of players from Africa, Europe, and South America are all present at Song Lam Nghe An for trials. However, through friendly matches, all of these players did not satisfy Huy Hoang.

Near the Lunar New Year 2023, the deadline to finalize the list of players participating in V.League, the Nghe An coach took a gamble when he used information technology to search for foreign players. The two players that coach Huy Hoang wanted to bring back were completely unfamiliar with Vietnam. The coaching staff of Song Lam Nghe An had never seen these two foreign players in real life.

Nice resume of Vytas and Soladio.

However, through information websites such as Instat, Transfermarkt, Soccerway, the two players Vytas and Soladio were quickly brought back by Song Lam Nghe An and registered in the list of 30 players participating in V.League 2023.

On the internet, these two foreign players both have quite a good resume. While center back Vytas has had 11 appearances for the Lithuanian team in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and friendly matches, Vytas has also played against the world's top teams.

Belgian striker Soladio is not far behind. He used to play for Liepaja in the Latvian National Championship. Since 2021, Soladio has scored 24 goals for Victoria Rosport and Liepaja clubs. When asked why he wanted to play in Vietnam, Soladio shared: "I wanted to come here because I wanted a new experience, a new adventure, so I changed to come here. I really like it."

And center back Vytas Gaspuitis said:“Due to professional requirements, I decided to come to Vietnam and I think it was the right decision, the best decision, for the next step in my career".

Unconvincing performance

After 4 rounds of V.League 2023, the curtain has gradually been lifted on the two rookies Vytas and Soladio. They are not as formidable as many people imagine. Of the 4 goals that Song Lam Nghe An had to endure, 3 came from high balls. So where was the 1m97 tall player - Vytas at that time? If a central defender has an ideal height, they have good coverage and reading of situations, which will help to avoid the limitations of their teammates. However, this has not been seen in this Lithuanian central defender.

In the opening match loss when Song Lam Nghe An met SHB Da Nang, Vytas stood alone in the penalty area without having to mark anyone, but this Western guy could not read the situation, could not occupy the space to support the fullback. And then Minh Tuan of SHB Da Nang pressed and powerfully headed into Van Tien's net.

This season, Song Lam Nghe An no longer has the service of Van Khanh, so coach Huy Hoang decided to recruit Vytas. This central defender is 1m97 tall. Photo: Chung Le

The 2 goals conceded in the match in round 4 were similar. The area near the goal, a hot spot, needed tall players like Vytas to support. However, the positioning ability of this 1m97 tall Western guy was not really good, so Muacri Abdul and Jairo of Khanh Hoa Club, easily headed the ball past goalkeeper Van Tien.

All central defenders when paired with Que Ngoc Hai must affirm that the captain of Song Lam Nghe An is a classy central defender, supporting his teammates well. However, when Vytas paired with Hai Que, the audience did not see that. Hopefully, the V.League 2023 break of more than 1 month will help Vytas realize his limitations and play more confidently.

The highlight that Vytas left behind was his powerful close-ups that put the opponent at a disadvantage. Besides, he also had quite good speed, so Song Lam Nghe An's defense was not at a disadvantage when the whole team attacked.

Thus, after 4 rounds, the rookie in the back line has left many concerns for the audience, the front line Soladio is not much better. Although this striker has scored 2 goals in 4 matches. However, through the way he plays, we can clearly see that Soladio is a player who does not have good basic techniques. His ball handling is often clumsy, and his ability to control the ball is not good. When his teammates pass the ball, he does not have enough skills to handle it neatly, the ball often bounces too far out of control. A person with a strong physique like Soladio has not seen the ability to be a wall in the front line. This is something that is very necessary in a foreign player.

Soladio's basic techniques are still limited. Photo: Chung Le

On the other hand, Soladio's ability to integrate with his teammates is not high. We have not seen the Belgian foreign player have any really good coordination with his teammates. When asked about striker Soladio, coach Chu Dinh Nghiem commented. "Player Soladio is a powerful striker, has the ability to sweep, but he has not integrated well with his teammates." - Mr. Nghiem said.

The brightest point that Soladio left behind was his physical strength and ability to run reasonably. The 2 goals that the Belgian player scored demonstrated his killer instinct.

After 4 rounds, Song Lam Nghe An has had an unexpected result, partly due to the limitations of the 2 foreign players mentioned above. Hopefully, in the near future, coach Huy Hoang will come up with a solution so that these 2 foreign players can better promote their strengths and overcome the above weaknesses.