Waiting for the 'Nghe Tinh Derby' match at Vinh Stadium

Olaha is in good form in recent matches, promising that he will continue to explode to bring good results for the Nghe An team. Photo: Chung Nguyen

The attraction of derby matches

Since ancient times, Nghe An and Ha Tinh have been two provinces with many similarities in cultural life. Football is also considered an indispensable spiritual food for the people here. This match in round 7 of V.league 2022 will witness the confrontation between SLNA and Hong Linh Ha Tinh. Although it is a newly established team, in recent confrontations between the two teams, Hong Mountain Club has dominated. In the last 4 meetings, coach Thanh Cong's team has been undefeated. Especially in 2021, Hong Linh Ha Tinh won 2-0 right on the fire pan of Vinh city.

Heading into this match, both teams are in very good form. The home team just had a convincing 2-0 victory over Ho Chi Minh City Club. With this victory, SLNA climbed to 3rd place on the rankings, after 5 rounds and only lost to the top team Hai Phong by 1 point. The Hong Mountain team also delighted their fans with a 3-1 victory over Binh Duong. This is the best streak of results that the two teams have had in the past 2 seasons. Therefore, this meeting makes many fans on both sides of the Lam River eagerly waiting for the exciting match at Vinh Stadium.

With the support from the fans, it will certainly create excitement, so that the players on both sides can perform an eye-catching match. Photo: Hoang Cuong

To motivate the players of both teams, the Supporters Association of SLNA and Hong Linh Ha Tinh has been planning for many days. In particular, the SLNA Supporters Association, with more than 20 years of experience, has been organized quite systematically. Each member is assigned a specific task, based on a prepared scenario. Traditional yellow shirts, flags, banners, drums, trumpets, etc. are provided to each member of the association.

As planned, a few hours before the match, SLNA fans will welcome Ha Tinh fans at Ben Thuy bridge. Then both will parade through the main streets of Vinh city. This will be an activity to create excitement for the match, as well as bring back the football festival to the Central region.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh An (Hung Dung Ward, Vinh City) has been a member of the SLNA Supporters Club for over 20 years. He is one of those who have gone through many ups and downs of the club and has devoted all his love to his team. Therefore, this match brought him many emotions.

Mr. An said: “I am very excited about this match. This is a match of friendship between the fans of both sides. Because on this S-shaped land, the people of Nghe An and Ha Tinh are always brothers, always have sincere feelings for each other. We hope that through this match, the feelings between the fans of the two teams will be further strengthened. That is the noble meaning that the beauty of sports will bring to the fans.”

He also added: “This match, with the enthusiastic cheering of the fans, will certainly bring a great atmosphere to Vinh Stadium. This will add excitement for the players to play more explosively. We hope that there will be many beautiful, thrilling, high-quality plays displayed by both teams. No matter the result of the match, the fans of both sides will certainly still hold hands in common joy.”

Waiting for the top match

SLNA and Hong Linh Ha Tinh are two teams that know each other very well. Due to the geographical distance and close relationship, the two teams often organize friendly matches to practice and improve their skills and tactics. In particular, in the recent Four-Nation Tournament held at Vinh Stadium, the two teams also met in the final match. After 90 minutes, with a draw, SLNA won the Four-Nation Football Tournament Tan Long Cup. However, it was only a friendly match, so it was impossible to fully evaluate the strength of the two teams.

SLNA's attack line showed a versatile playing style in the last round. Photo: Duc Anh

Although this season Hong Linh Ha Tinh lost important players such as Tran Phi Son, Truong Trong Sang or Zakaria Suraka due to injury. However, under the leadership of talented coach Nguyen Thanh Cong, the Hong mountain team is performing quite well in recent matches. The way the Nghe coach is using the 4-1-4-1 formation has brought Hong Linh Ha Tinh a very flexible and effective defensive counter-attacking style of play. The proof of this is that they have won 2 victories against Viettel and Binh Duong. These are 2 teams that are considered to be in a superior position.

However, entering this match, Hong Linh Ha Tinh faced a slight disadvantage, as the main midfielder Dinh Thanh Trung could not play due to injury in the match against Binh Duong. The 2017 Golden Ball winner is a player with impressive passing and game tempo control abilities. That is one of the strengths that helped coach Thanh Cong's team achieve positive results in recent matches.

Xuan Manh is creating trust among the coaching staff and fans when he was brought back to play in the defensive midfielder position. Photo: Duc Anh

There are also personnel difficulties like the away team, SLNA cannot have the service of midfielder Ojong Mark due to a long-term injury. However, coach Huy Hoang has shown his skill when bringing Xuan Manh back to fill the gap left by this foreign player. Through the match with TP Ho Chi Minh, the audience has seen the effectiveness in defensive support situations of the player from Yen Thanh. Besides, Xuan Manh also plays the role of passing the ball from below quite smoothly. Right-back Tran Dinh Hoang also cannot play, because in the match of round 6, this player received a direct red card. However, this absence probably will not be difficult for coach Huy Hoang, because he still has a number of factors that can handle the above position well such as: Ho Van Cuong, Dinh Dong, Ho Khac Luong...

SLNA’s strength at this time is its versatile attacking style. With the mobility of the trio - Van Duc, Olaha, Oseni, they have repeatedly disrupted the opponent’s defense, opening up spaces for teammates to pass through. This was proven by both goals that SLNA scored in the match of round 6.

Van Duc - Olaha - Oseni are creating a versatile attacking triangle. Photo: Duc Anh

In the upcoming match against Hong Linh Ha Tinh, the Vinh home team will almost certainly apply an attacking style of play from the start. Because at this point in time, from the audience's perspective, SLNA is considered to have more advantages. That is considered in terms of squad quality, as well as the mentality of playing at home.

With their impressive coaching skills this season, both coaches will certainly have plans to bring an exciting match to the fans on both sides of the Lam River./.