HAGL lost to SLNA at Vinh Stadium

(Baonghean.vn) - VWith a fiery attacking style of play and superiority over the opponent, SLNA won convincingly 2-0.

Returning home after an "unsatisfactory" away trip with a 1-3 defeat and rumors of Que Ngoc Hai being favored, the Song Lam dressing room was in turmoil. It was thought that this would make the boat steered by Nguyen Duc Thang even more unstable. But no, today (March 18) at Vinh Stadium with a fiery attacking style and superiority over the opponent, SLNA won convincingly.

Right after the opening whistle, SLNA surprised their opponents with a goal in the 55th second. The goal was scored by Olaha, his first goal in an SLNA shirt. Photo: Duc Anh.

Entering the match at Vinh Stadium, both SLNA and HAGL did not get the desired results. After 9 rounds, with 9 points in hand, SLNA is ranked 11th on the rankings.

Meanwhile, the away team, despite being expected by the media and amateur fans to be in their prime, has not fared much better. In the last two rounds, coach Nguyen Quoc Tuan’s team has lost easily. That result has caused HAGL to fall from its highest position in recent seasons (5th place) on the rankings to 10th place.

In that context, the match between SLNA and HAGL is very important for both teams in the difficult relegation battle.

Returning to the main events of the match, the surprising thing was that before the audience could even sit down, the away team's net was shaken. From an attack on the left and right wings, Henry made a pass into the 5m50 area. Olaha quickly rushed in and tapped the ball close to the goal to open the score. So, after a lot of criticism for not playing effectively but still being trusted by coach Nguyen Duc Thang, Olaha did not disappoint his teacher with a very important goal.

In this goal, although Phi Son did not directly assist, from a beautiful and skillful dribble, he made a pass that tore apart the HAGL defense, creating conditions for Henry to make an assist and Olaha just had to score.

After the goal that broke the deadlock, with a relaxed mentality, SLNA completely dominated their opponents. Photo: Duc Anh.

With an early goal, the home team seemed to have gotten rid of the heavy feeling after the unfavorable results. The coordination between Phi Son, Khac Ngoc and their teammates was very precise and smooth.

Just 5 minutes after opening the scoring, Olaha almost scored a double with a classy header, unfortunately his header sent the ball just inches above goalkeeper Van Tien's goal.

In the 18th minute, Olaha returned the favor to Henry with a favorable pass into the 5m50 area. Henry quickly kicked the ball into the near corner, the ball went low and dangerously but the away team's goalkeeper still managed to dive to clear the ball out of the goal.

Just 2 minutes later, from a free kick on the right wing by Ho Khac Ngoc, Que Ngoc Hai handled the ball neatly in the penalty area, then he made a very flexible shot that completely eliminated goalkeeper Van Tien. Unfortunately, the shot of captain Ngoc Hai hit the crossbar and flew out of the goal.

Meanwhile, Cong Phuong and his teammates had a very poor match. During the first half, the mountain town team did not make a single shot towards goalkeeper Nguyen Manh's goal. Photo: Duc Anh.

When the first half had only a few minutes left, SLNA was awarded a corner kick on the right wing, the ball was returned to Sy Nam, he fired a powerful left-footed shot from outside the penalty area and defeated goalkeeper Van Tien.Luckily for the mountain town team, there was still one of their defenders covering and clearing the ball right on the goal line.

As for the visitors, conceding a goal too early caused HAGL to lose their rhythm. Therefore, a team known for its cohesive, beautiful playing style completely disappeared to give way to a style of play with long passes that were not much different from the clearances of the defenders.

Even the names that are very noticeable such as Cong Phuong, Van Toan, Van Thanh, Hong Duy - these are the players called up to the national team in this training session - are easily separated by veteran midfielder Van Vinh or midfielder Ngoc Duc, Khac Ngoc of the home team.

That's why they had to hold the ball and dribble and then lose the ball or pass it to the SLNA players, or have the ball easily taken by the home team. With such a deadlocked play, it's not hard to understand why throughout the first half, the mountain town team didn't have a single shot towards goalkeeper Nguyen Manh's goal while SLNA had 7 shots, 1 - 0 for SLNA was the first half score.

The winning goal of 2-0 was scored by midfielder number 12 Ho Khac Ngoc. Photo: Duc Anh.

Phi Son (middle) and his teammates celebrate the goal. In this match, Phi Son overshadowed his junior Cong Phuong. He was the focus of all SLNA attacks and all the dangerous attacks of the home team came from the feet of the Vietnamese "Roanldo". Photo: Duc Anh.

Entering the second half, HAGL entered the game more proactively, however, with their lack of experience and physical strength, HLGL still did not create any opportunities in front of goalkeeper Nguyen Manh's goal. Meanwhile, coach Nguyen Duc Thang seemed to instruct his students to play more solidly on the home field and wait for counter-attacks.

This style of play proved to be very effective in the context of the 2 foreign strikers, although not really excellent, but were effectively assisted by HAGL's poor defense. In the 78th minute, from a quick counter-attack, Olaha passed the ball into the visitors' penalty area to Henry. Although the first shot of the foreign striker wearing the number 45 shirt could not beat goalkeeper Van Tien, midfielder Ho Khac Ngoc quickly rushed in to make a powerful shot to raise the score to 2-0.

Conceding the second goal when there was not much time left in the match, so despite their best efforts, the only mark of the away team was Hong Duy's free kick from the right wing that hit the crossbar of goalkeeper Nguyen Manh. As for the home team, they were not interested in attacking because victory was already in their hands.

Thanh Vinh audiences once again enjoyed the joy of victory brought by coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team. Photo: Duc Anh.

Losing the third consecutive match, the mountain town team still only has 10 points after 10 rounds and dropped to 11th place, the position that SLNA was occupying before the round. As for coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team, this victory not only brought them 3 full points at Vinh Stadium and 10th place on the rankings but also a huge boost in spirit for the difficult road ahead.

In addition, with a very good attacking position, it seems that SLNA players are "in form". With such a style of play, as long as the foreign players improve their finishing, SLNA will certainly improve and soon step out of the risky relegation battle.

PV Group