National Cup: SLNA on their journey to defend their title.

Not many teams, including those in the First Division, harbor high ambitions for the National Cup. It's primarily a testing ground for teams to experiment with lineups and hone their skills, so there aren't as many dramatic matches as in the national championship.

To save costs, the organizers even allowed teams to play each other only once in the first two rounds. But in this encounter, both the home and away teams had their own strategies.

The home team is taking a run-up.

Fans at Vinh Stadium were eagerly awaiting SLNA's first home win of the 2018 V-League season. In their last three matches, SLNA lost 0-1 to S. Khanh Hoa, drew 2-2 with Than Quang Ninh, and drew 0-0 with B. Binh Duong, causing the "Vinh Stadium cauldron" to lose much of its intensity.

The match against Ho Chi Minh City FC suddenly became more important than usual because a victory would give the SLNA players a psychological boost before facing bottom-placed Nam Dinh a few days later.

Coach Miura's starting lineup will not change much compared to the match on April 5th at Thong Nhat Stadium, except perhaps for Hai Anh - a striker from Nghe An province who will not start. Photo: Dung Nguyen

Ho Chi Minh City FC is not a particularly strong team; they were just defeated 2-0 by Khac Ngoc and his teammates at Thong Nhat Stadium. Therefore, a victory, even a resounding one, at Vinh Stadium will give SLNA players much more confidence when they face newcomer Nam Dinh.

SLNA sending their reserve squad to Malaysia for a formality match against Johor Darul Ta'zim in the AFC Cup indirectly demonstrates the team's focus on the next two matches in Vinh. The SLNA coaching staff are undoubtedly well-informed about the players' situation under coach Miura, and this presents a good opportunity for them to secure their first win of the season in Vinh.

Coach Miura's starting lineup will not change much compared to the match on April 5th at Thong Nhat Stadium, except perhaps for Hai Anh - a striker from Nghe An - who will not start.

Test for Miura

So far, after 6 rounds, Ho Chi Minh City FC has 3 wins and 3 losses, ranking 4th in the standings. In the National Cup, they also struggled to win against First Division team Dong Thap 1-0. Despite not having their best players, both domestic and foreign, at their disposal, Chairman Vinh and Coach Miura have declared their goal of finishing in the top positions and winning a medal in the 2018 V-League remains unchanged.

Coach Miura is facing a serious shortage of players. Photo: Dung Nguyen

Gustavo, Phi Son, and Ngoc Thinh are suffering long-term injuries, and the naturalization plan for Gonzalo is encountering problems, creating many difficulties for coach Miura. The Japanese coach is currently forced to use the tallest central defensive pairing in Vietnam, Dinh Luat and Dang Van Robert. Miura's players lack clarity and effective attacking strategies.

After their match against SLNA at Vinh Stadium, Coach Vinh's team will return to the V-League to face two very strong opponents: Hanoi FC and SHB Da Nang. Coach Miura will use this match to test his playing style before returning home to face the team from the capital.

Therefore, the National Cup match will be tense and dramatic, but there won't be as many rough tackles and fouls as usual, even though both SLNA and TP HCM have played quite aggressively in recent matches.

Simply put, both teams have players who, if they receive another yellow card, will be relegated to the sidelines for Round 7 of the V-League 2018, something that neither SLNA nor TP HCM coaching staff want to see happen.

In the Round of 16 match of the National Cup, fans in Nghe An will witness a rather interesting clash between Khac Ngoc and Van Thuan, two of the most in-form central midfielders currently. Whether SLNA or "the Cong Vinh version of SLNA" will win at Vinh Stadium remains a difficult question to answer, despite the home team having several advantages.