FLC Thanh Hoa 1-0 SLNA: The failed escape

The two biggest surprises for the visiting team SLNA were that goalkeeper Vu Hai, not Van Hung, was in goal, and striker Olaha was paired with Tuan Tai, not Osmar. This foreign player was not even in the reserve squad. To counter the opponent's "drilling" of the border, SLNA's coaching staff decided to use the pair of fullbacks Dinh Hoang and Xuan Manh.

Home team determined to win

Right after his birthday, rookie Ofere thanked his teammates and Thanh Hoa fans with an important goal. Photo: TA

Coach Mihail also sent all 4 players from SLNA, Dinh Dong, Trong Hoang, Hoang Thinh and Van Binh onto the field with the intention of "using Nghe people to fight Nghe people". Hoang Dinh Tung was the only player from FLC Thanh Hoa who scored a goal and was put on the field to take the place of striker Van Thang. Naturalized center back Nguyen Van Bakel and midfielder Ryutaro Karube were not on the list of players. In this match, both teams used a defense line of domestic players.

Mr. Mihail decided to play with a 4-3-3 formation, the attack line with the foreign pair Omar, Ofere playing together for the first time, on the left wing was Hoang Dinh Tung, a player with a rather annoying dribbling style. The 3 experienced midfielders of Nghe origin Trong Hoang, Hoang Thinh and Van Binh controlled the midfield quite well, making it impossible for SLNA players to organize many attacks.

Midfielder Van Binh, in his first time on the field under coach Mihail, played extremely impressively in both the role of ball recovery, assist and free kick. Although not physically fit, Van Binh had quite clever moves, so SLNA players had to commit fouls to get the ball from this midfielder. Goalkeeper Vu Hai played quite impressively in his debut match, saving both the opponent's attacks and Dinh Hoang's failed clearance.

As experts have predicted, with the height advantage of FLC Thanh Hoa players, Coach Mihail will use aerial combat to find a goal. From a free kick situation, in the 55th minute, instead of crossing, Van Binh kicked the ball so that Ofere, who is 1.90m tall, could head the ball into the net. The weakness of the Nghe An team in aerial combat was once again exploited by a player who has played for SLNA for many years.

Coach Mihail's determination to win all 3 points was clearly shown when the score was 1-0, he still replaced the duo Dinh Tung and Trong Hoang to increase the wing attack. He wanted the 2 players who had just entered the field, Minh Tuan and Van Thang, with abundant physical strength, to go down the wing to cross many high balls to Omar and Ofere.

Failed attempt

Playing with only one foreign player Olaha, SLNA was dominated by the opponent in the midfield. Photo: TA

Obviously, coach Duc Thang's decision to use goalkeeper Vu Hai to defend against high balls was correct, except for the goal conceded by the goalkeeper from Ha Tinh who played quite well. To be fair, this was still a watchable match for the Nghe An team. Despite conceding a goal from the beginning of the second half, SLNA did not let the home team dominate the field, they were still confident in developing the ball on the opponent's field. Facing opponents with a physical playing style like Trong Hoang, Hoang Thinh, Omar, Ofere, SLNA's young players still fought without compromise.

Returning from Jordan, national players Khac Ngoc and Xuan Manh still maintained their original form. Khac Ngoc still did quite well in organizing the attack, while Xuan Manh controlled his senior Trong Hoang very well.

At the end of the match, SLNA’s coaching staff brought forward Viet Nguyen, SLNA’s tallest player, onto the field to take advantage of high balls. However, in a match where goalkeeper Tien Dung did not play very well, due to “lack of luck” and insufficient pressure, SLNA did not score even though the ball hit the post several times.

The escape from the bottom of the rankings failed, after 3 matches with only 1 point in hand, the pressure is increasingly heavy on coach Duc Thang. An April with 7 dense matches is really a challenge for the coaching staff and players of SLNA, there is no other way but to stand up after the defeat./.