Expert Nguyen Thanh Vinh offers unique advice for V.League

(Baonghean.vn) - "If a stadium does not have enough spectators to cheer for a match, the match can be played at a neutral stadium so that people can come watch and cheer for their favorite team."

- Sir, up to this point, how do you evaluate phase 1 of V.League 2017?

Former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh is no stranger to V.League matches during the subsidy period and now. Photo: Trung Kien

This year, the first phase of V.League is clearly divided into 2 tops, not 3 tops. According to the rules, Long An is at the highest risk of relegation. Ho Chi Minh City Club has just been promoted, but this is too good. Foreign coaches are really bringing a new wind into the tournament.

Regarding the tournament organization or the refereeing, there is no evidence to say they are negative, but if their mistakes stem from their level of expertise, in my opinion, we must eliminate them from this game.

The players play professionally, and their skills are getting better day by day. However, if the referees do not keep up with it, it will hinder the quality and development of V.League. The referees are killing football from offside or non-offside situations. Overall, the saddest thing is that V.League is gradually losing the trust of fans.

- Yes! At the top, the teams are putting pressure on each other, what do you think about this year's championship race?

In my opinion, the team with the advantage in the championship race is still FLC Thanh Hoa. I highly appreciate the role of coach Petrovic, he is doing very effectively. However, if they do not improve their physical endurance, the Thanh team cannot maintain this advantage and will be left behind by Hanoi because the capital team has young strength. As for other teams like Da Nang, Quang Nam... I do not think they are superior to these two teams.

- It is true that V.League is becoming more and more deserted, even in stadiums that used to be "hot spots" like Binh Duong Stadium, Vinh Stadium... In your opinion, what is the direction to go for this problem?

There are not many matches where the away fans fill the stands like the SLNA away match at Hang Day. Photo: Trung Kien

There are matches with a lot of spectators, and there are matches with only a few thousand spectators. In my opinion, if a stadium does not have enough spectators to cheer for the match, the match can be played at a neutral stadium. There, people can come and watch and cheer for their favorite team without any worries.

Like the previous A1 tournament, there was no home and away matches, first and second legs like now. Now a match takes place without spectators, if there are any, it is only sparse and still applies home and away matches, then it is not football serving the people anymore.

But once the audience has stopped coming to stadiums like Hang Day, Thong Nhat, Go Dau... to watch, for example, why not take those matches to a locality that has a need to enjoy football, as long as the facilities to organize a professional match are guaranteed.

Furthermore, playing in a stadium without spectators will definitely affect the players' spirit. Spectators only come to watch, which is a waste. I believe that if those matches were moved to other stadiums, the spectators would be many times more numerous. Because in many places in Vietnam, people still lack cultural and spiritual life. A large audience is also a way to increase the income of the players. They also play more enthusiastically when they are able to serve the spectators.

Thank you for this conversation!

Trung Kien