'Hit the dog with his own petard'!

(Baonghean) - The V.League 2017 ball has rolled for 2 rounds. The last 2 rounds have shown the efforts of the Organizing Committee and the teams in the preparation stage from referee training, issuing documents, rules reminding, strictly prohibiting unsportsmanlike behavior in this season... to make the tournament more and more professional.

This was demonstrated as follows: Ho Chi Minh City Club players ran around the field to thank the audience; despite losing the match, the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City Club still gave bonuses to encourage the players' spirit; on the pitch, advertising billboards were filled; in the middle of the match, many clubs even invited singers to sing before the ball rolled and during the break to make the atmosphere more exciting...

SLNA lost points in the last minute of the match against XSKT Can Tho.

However, the most important thing is that the fighting spirit on the field of some players and the referees' control of the match are still... amateur!

After only 2 rounds, the refereeing work has been complained and lamented by the coaches of the teams. The most notable of these was referee Duc Vu's refusal of a penalty for Quang Ninh in round 1; in round 2, Long An players were unfairly awarded a penalty by referee Minh Tri, causing them to lose points in the final minutes of the match...

On the field, many players play with a careless attitude and lack of concentration. A typical example is the Nghe An team. In two consecutive matches, both players who are pillars in the defense line are the ones who "betray" the team, causing them to lose points.

That was the situation where center back Pham Manh Hung kicked an own goal on Thanh Hoa field, leading to the home team losing their spirit and losing "back to back" on the opening day. In round 2, it seemed like SLNA would have their first 3 points, but in the extra minute, Que Ngoc Hai "burned the temple" and gave Can Tho a goal, surprising everyone at Vinh field.

In the match against Can Tho, in addition to Ngoc Hai's "own goal", the attitude of some SLNA players in the match was very reprehensible. In addition to the impatience in approaching the opponent's goal leading to many wasted opportunities in the first half, in the second half, after the foreign player scored, the domestic players played without concentration, deliberately dribbling and wasting time when attacking, and when the away team counterattacked, they fumbled and carelessly cleared the ball.

This attitude is not only limited to SLNA players but it seems to have permeated the players and coaches of the V.League teams, making the image of the matches increasingly distorted and ugly as they approach the end, and leading to cases of "the stick hitting the owner's back", such as SLNA losing points in the last minute of the match and the audience becoming increasingly frustrated and turning their backs on the teams.

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