National Cup: Will SLNA reach the end of the road?

There are 23 teams participating in the 2018 National Cup, including 14 V-League teams and 9 First Division teams, SLNA is the current holder of this Cup. In the qualifying round, there are 7 matches and only 5 V-League teams and 9 First Division teams have to compete, quite surprisingly, Than Quang Ninh lost 0-5 to HAGL and was eliminated.

Secondary playground

In the round of 16, there will be 8 matches, of which only 3 first division teams Binh Dinh, Binh Phuoc and Long An remain, with up to 13 V-League teams. Except for B.Binh Phuoc meeting Nam Dinh, who are struggling to escape relegation, the remaining 2 first division teams have little chance of advancing.

It can be said that the National Cup will essentially be a "secondary playground" for V-League teams, where young players or players returning from injury get used to the feeling of the ball. Many coaches, the ball has not yet rolled but have shown no interest in this tournament. Coach Tai Em of Saigon is the most specific example. This new coach, when meeting Hanoi FC again, quickly informed the reserve players to take the field to face the team with whom he had just earned a 1-1 draw in V-League 2018.

Quite a few players from Ho Chi Minh City, SLNA's first opponent in the National Cup, are injured. Photo: Dung Nguyen

According to the match schedule, SLNA will meet Coach Miura’s Ho Chi Minh City Club. After a series of injuries to Phi Son and Ngoc Thinh, and Gonzalo not being able to play as a naturalized player, the Thong Nhat Stadium team is having to play with a patchwork lineup. Having just lost 0-2 to SLNA at home, it is clear that the away team, “SLNA version of Cong Vinh”, is rated much lower than the home team.

If they win, coach Duc Thang's team will meet the winner of the match between SHB.Da Nang and XSKT.Can Tho. This is a relatively balanced match and XSKT.Can Tho's form is even better than the home team Da Nang's. Both teams changed coaches before the season, but coach Dinh Hong Vinh of the Tay Do team stabilized the playing style faster than Minh Phuong.

Challenge

In our opinion, SLNA will only have difficulty reaching the semi-finals and finals when the next two opponents are likely to be FLC Thanh Hoa and Hanoi. At the beginning of the season, the National Cup was not the ambition of Thanh Hoa's bosses, they were determined to win the V-League championship.

But after the "changing horses in midstream", the National Cup will be the title to redeem the season and with a squad consisting of many former national players, FLC Thanh Hoa is still a tough opponent.

The fact that from the quarter-finals onwards, the teams will play home and away matches will help the Nghe An team have an advantage, as they will play the return leg at Vinh Stadium. But in reality, in recent years, even when playing at home, SLNA still faces difficulties with the neighboring team.

Hanoi FC is SLNA's opponent in the National Cup. Photo: Hoai Hoan

With 4 players from Nghe An, FLC Thanh Hoa is the second team after Ho Chi Minh City Club to use many players from SLNA. Knowing each other well, having better domestic players, and high-quality foreign players, FLC Thanh Hoa will be a big challenge for SLNA if they want to be present in the final match in October this year.

It seems that nothing special will make Hanoi FC present in the National Cup final even though they just drew with Daklak. With the current strength, Coach Chu Dinh Nghiem's ​​team is only losing to themselves. Many coaches also said that even in V-League 2018, if they split into 2 teams, Hanoi FC still has a chance to win the championship, let alone the National Cup.

To defend the national championship, SLNA must go through 7 matches with 4 opponents. To win the championship last year, the Nghe An team had Phi Son and Danko, foreign players who were unlucky with the V-League but were "rookies" in this arena. I wonder if, with the current squad, SLNA can go all the way that has been mapped out?