Hai Phong - SLNA: The battle of 'old friends'

The face that cannot be ignored on the home team side is Coach Pham Anh Tuan. When he was still playing, Mr. Tuan "Thao" was a teammate of Nguyen Huu Thang, Van Sy Hung,Ngo Quang Truong,Phan Thanh Tuan, Van Sy Son... InSLNA shirt color,The former right-back born in 1970 has won many prestigious titles, typically the championship at the National Football Championship in 2000.

Coach Pham Anh Tuan (orange shirt) of Hai Phong is a former player and former deputy coach of SLNA. Photo: Xuan Thuy

After leaving his "shorts and jersey" career, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan has successively taken on the roles ofyouth training at SLNA(2002 - 2007), assistant coach then head coach of VinaKansai Ninh Binh Cement (2007 - 2009), assistant coach of SLNA (2009 - 2019). Currently, the 50-year-old strategist is the current head coach of Hai Phong. Mr. Pham Anh Tuan is the first coach from Nghe An to be the "captain" of the port city team.

In addition, the Hai Phong coaching staff also has two strong assistants from Nghe An, Mr. Pham Bui Minh and Mr. Le Quoc Vuong. The first person is currently on the payroll of the SLNA training center (on a secondment), the second person is a very familiar face to experts and football fans in the country. As a player, Le Quoc Vuong played for SLNA, The Cong, Thanh Hoa and the Vietnam national teams.

Coach Ngo Quang Truong also had the opportunity to face his old team Hai Phong. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh

Not only possessing a coaching staff with SLNA characteristics, but the Hai Phong squad also has the presence of many players who grew up from the SLNA training center or played for the Nghe An team. Besides central defender Pham Manh Hung, there are central defender Nguyen Ba Duc, midfielder Nguyen Van Hanh, midfielder Dau Thanh Phong, midfielder Le The Cuong and striker Nguyen Viet Nguyen. Not to mention, foreign player Diego Fagan also had 1 season playing for the Vinh team (2011).

On the other side of the battle line,Nghe An football teamalso owns 2 faces who have been associated with the Hai Phong team for a while. On the coaching bench is coach Ngo Quang Truong. Don't forget, Mr. Truong "buffalo" is the former Technical Director of Hai Phong in the past 2 seasons. An interesting confrontation betweenCoach Ngo Quang Truongwith his old team - Hai Phong, with his old teammate and former colleague - Coach Pham Anh Tuan.

Under coach Ngo Quang Truong, midfielder Nguyen Phu Nguyen is the only player who has ever played for Hai Phong on loan. In the second leg of V.League 2019, Nguyen Phu Nguyen was loaned to the Hai Phong team. Returning to Lach Tray Stadium this time, the midfielder born in 1995 will have quite special feelings. Unfortunately, Nguyen Phu Nguyen's chance to play in SLNA's away match against Hai Phong is not really high.

The match between Hai Phong and SLNA in round 13 of V.League 2020 will take place at Lach Tray Stadium, at 5:00 p.m. on October 1./.