Cong Phuong shines, SLNA loses to Ho Chi Minh City at Vinh Stadium

With stable performance after 5 rounds, SLNA took the field with the same starting lineup as the match against Hanoi FC. Meanwhile, the visiting team Ho Chi Minh City FC did not field Nghe An players who grew up at SLNA such as Hoang Thinh and Phi Son from the start.

In the second minute, SLNA was awarded a corner kick and the ball was crossed very awkwardly into the penalty area but no player could intercept the ball. The match became exciting in the first minutes because of the enthusiastic cheering of Nghe An fans in the stands.

In the first 10 minutes of the match, Ho Chi Minh City Club was still the one who showed more initiative but they were faced with SLNA's strong defensive counter-attacking style. The central defenders and full-backs of the Nghe An team played quite solidly.

Striker Peter was still active but could not help SLNA score points at home. Photo: Thanh Cuong

In the 14th minute, SLNA had the first shot from young player Tran Dinh Tien after a careless move by center back Diakite, unfortunately the home team midfielder's shot was not good. After a few minutes of the match being interrupted because the players were on the ground, the match became exciting from the 22nd minute.

Starting from a counter-attack on the right wing by Sy Nam, Phan Van Duc handled the ball in one move and then passed it to Dinh Tien to face goalkeeper Thanh Thang, putting the ball into the net. However, unfortunately, the linesman determined that it was an offside move by a SLNA player.

In this match, Van Hoang continued to show his high performance by rushing out to clear the danger quite reasonably, helping SLNA's defense stand firm in the counter-attack. In the 28th minute, the Nghe An team was awarded a corner kick and a player rushed in to head the ball but it hit the ground but goalkeeper Thanh Thang caught it.

Phan Van Duc cannot flourish as before. Photo: Duc Anh

Accelerating and continuously threatening the opponent, SLNA had to pay the price for pushing forward without scoring a goal. In the 30th minute, Amido Balde of Ho Chi Minh City passed the SLNA midfield, Van Thanh was quite lucky to get the ball after Gustavo's tackle and quickly finished past goalkeeper Van Hoang, opening the score 1-0.

Minutes after conceding a goal, SLNA rose up with a chance from Peter Samuel. The Nigerian striker had a great solo performance, passing the visiting team's defender and firing a shot that went just wide of the post.

In the 5th minute of injury time of the first half, SLNA had a good attack but Peter Samuel was offside so the goal was not recognized. If this player had given the ball to Dinh Tien, SLNA might have had an equalizer.

The first half score was 1-0 in favor of the away team, Ho Chi Minh City Club.

Ho Chi Minh City's foreign players performed better than SLNA's foreign players. Photo: Thanh Cuong

In the second half, to increase the attacking power, the Nghe An team made two substitutions, midfielder Dinh Tien and Dinh Chau were replaced by veteran midfielder Nguyen Quang Tinh and striker Alagie Sosseh. At this time, SLNA played with two foreign strikers and Tuan Tai moved back to play as a winger.

Not only did they not equalize, SLNA also faced more difficulties when they conceded the second goal in the 57th minute. Player Van Thanh had a very good opening pass for Huy Toan to pass accurately, helping Cong Phuong escape to face Van Hoang to score, raising the score to 2-0.

Not yet recovered from the 2 goals conceded, SLNA conceded another goal in the 63rd minute. Cong Phuong took a corner kick, the ball reached Sam Ngoc Duc and this player took a shot. The ball hit a home player's foot and Amido was lucky to kick the ball into an empty net. The score was 3-0 for Ho Chi Minh City Club.

In this match, the offside trap of Ho Chi Minh City's defense worked very effectively and continuously made SLNA's chances go unnoticed. In the 80th minute, Ho Tuan Tai once again fell into an offside position before finishing towards Ho Chi Minh City's goal. That was SLNA's 8th offside situation in the match.

The joy of Ho Chi Minh City players. Photo: Duc Anh

A minute later, Xuan Nam escaped down the left wing and passed the ball beautifully to Cong Phuong, unfortunately this player made a mistake in receiving the ball and Van Hoang successfully intercepted the ball. SLNA's defense continued to be threatened by Xuan Nam's shot that hit the crossbar in the 82nd minute.

After a brilliant free kick save by Van Hoang, SLNA had a chance to score in a well-organized attack. Midfielder Quang Tinh kicked the ball from outside the 16m50 box with good force and danger but could not beat goalkeeper Thanh Thang. At this time, SLNA made 2 consecutive substitutions, Van Duc and Alaige Sosseh left the field for Ngoc Anh and Van Viet to enter the field.

Right at the 90th minute, center back Gustavo Santos took advantage of his height to defeat goalkeeper Thanh Thang in an aerial battle, bringing home a goal for the home team. This goal was not enough to help SLNA rekindle hope, but it also demonstrated the spirit of overcoming difficulties of coach Quang Truong's students.

In the end, Ho Chi Minh City FC defeated SLNA 3-1 at Vinh Stadium. With this result, Ho Chi Minh City rose to the top of the table with 13 points while SLNA temporarily maintained the 2nd position with 11 points after 6 rounds, but played 1 more match than the opponents. This was also the match that ended the unbeaten streak and broke the clean sheet record of the Nghe An team.

LINEUP

Song Lam Nghe An:Van Hoang, Dinh Chau (Quang Tinh 46'), Tuan Tai, Van Lam (Phuc Tinh 65'), Dinh Tien (Alagi 46' - Van Viet 87'), Dinh Dong, Van Duc (Ngoc Anh 87'), Sy Nam, Peter, Ba Sang, Gustavo.

Ho Chi Minh City Club:Thanh Thang, Tung Quoc, Seo Yong Duk (Hoang Thinh 84'), Ngoc Duc (Duc Luong 84'), Huu Tuan, Huy Toan (Xuan Nam 69'), Diakite, Van Thanh (Viet Phu 69'), Van Thuan, Cong Phuong, Amido (Phi Son 76').

Song Lam Nghe An defeated Hanoi, temporarily leading V.League 2020

(Baonghean.vn) - Dang Van Lam's long-range shot helped SLNA win by a narrow margin against Hanoi right at Hang Day Stadium, round 5 of V.League 2020. This victory was not only significant in terms of points, but it also erased the Nghe An team's streak of not winning at Hang Day Stadium.