National Cup: Ugly images

Not as hot as V-League, but the round of 16 of the National Cup has left ugly images on the field. Surprisingly, even former national players like Huy Toan (SHB.Da Nang), Dinh Luat, Van Hoan (HCMC Club) are the ones who created that image.

Despite winning XSKT.Can Tho 4-2, SHB.Da Nang players left a bad image. Photo: Internet

When the referee's hand shakes

At Hoa Xuan Stadium, in the 69th minute, Luiz equalized 2-2 in an aerial dispute with goalkeeper Thanh Binh. Slow motion on television showed that the SHB.Da Nang goalkeeper made a mistake, missed the ball, allowing foreign player Luiz (XSKT.Can Tho) to jump and hook the ball into the empty net, a beautiful goal.

But the home team and coach Minh Phuong thought that Luiz had committed a foul in the air with goalkeeper Thanh Binh, so they stopped the match and put pressure on referee Nguyen Trung Kien (B), causing the match to be interrupted. The match was only resumed when both match supervisor Thai Binh Thuan and referee supervisor Dang Thanh Ha came down to the field to intervene. It is unclear why referee Nguyen Trung Kien (B) was lenient and did not give out a card to cool down the hot heads that were constantly approaching him.

In terms of technicality, this was a good match, with both sides playing enthusiastically and with dedication. Ha Duc Chinh and Merlo scored in the 4-2 victory over XSKT.Can Tho. But if there had not been excessive controversy, the home team would have had a memorable match, leaving the away team "convinced".

Protect the players

It is not surprising that Ho Chi Minh City FC and SLNA both received 16 yellow cards in V-League 2018, leading the teams with the most cards. But clearly, in the national cup match at Vinh Stadium, the home team played much more fair-play.

The “SLNA Cong Vinh version” team made 4,000 Vinh stadium spectators unhappy with their aggressive style of play, which was aimed at destroying the opponent. It seemed that when Coach Miura visited Nguyen Manh and Ngoc Hai, his former students who were injured, the match would be more moderate, but on the contrary.

Despite playing very tough, Ho Chi Minh City players still suffered another loss against SLNA. Photo: Dung Nguyen

TV viewers all believe that if referee Nguyen Trung Kien (A) had correctly ruled, Coach Miura’s players would not have received only 1 red card and 3 yellow cards. Strangely enough, Van Duc was the “target” of the Nghe An seniors of “SLNA version of Cong Vinh” who were maliciously tackled. Not only did Sam Ngoc Duc receive 2 yellow cards and have to leave the field, but before that, Au Van Hoan also jumped on his juniors.

The field is slippery, such destructive collisions could very well cause serious injuries to the newly emerging national team player of SLNA. The seniors after losing 0-2 at Thong Nhat Stadium and then continuing to lose at Vinh Stadium could not keep calm. But with Van Duc, in addition to his colleague and junior, this year the young midfielder also holds the responsibility of being a mainstay of the U23 Vietnam team on international duty. Unfortunately, Au Van Hoan and Ngoc Duc could not think of that, VFF needs to ask the referee team to work more strictly.

Many people believe that the late-game tackle by captain Dinh Luat on Olaha deserved a red card. In a not-so-dangerous situation, the veteran viciously tackled SLNA's only foreign player right at the touchline. In our opinion, the National Cup Organizing Committee needs to "dissect" the tape to deal with the violent situation on defender Dinh Luat because his statements after the collision showed that he did not see the level of danger he caused.