SLNA's difficult journey at the National Cup

Coach Quang Truong is showing his “cool hand” when boldly putting on the field very young faces such as Van Lam (born in 1999), Tran Dinh Tien (born in 1999) and Nguyen Van Viet (born in 1998). The 1-0 victory over Binh Dinh will open up opportunities for SLNA’s young players to continue to be put on the field in the match against Ba Ria - Vung Tau. Those 90 minutes were truly precious time for Dinh Chau, Van Lam and their teammates, although they had to rely on their senior Sy Nam to get the victory.

Challenge young players again

SLNA's coaching staff needs to be more bold when using young players. Photo: VPF

Ba Ria - Vung Tau's squad is mostly young players, the mainstays are older players such as Xuan Luan (born in 1987), Hoang Quang (born in 1987), Trung Tin (born in 1991), Ngoc Manh (born in 1990), mostly playing in the defense. Coach Tran Minh Chien is considered to have a good ability to turn the situation around, as evidenced by the fact that he sent right midfielder Van Kien (7) onto the field to score a double against Saigon FC.

In terms of force, Ba Ria - Vung Tau is far behind Saigon FC, but they have embarrassed the President and Coach of Saigon Club Vu Tien Thanh. However, experts all believe that when leaving home, Coach Tran Minh Chien and his team will find it difficult to repeat this at Vinh Stadium when SLNA's defense is considered much stronger than Saigon's. In addition, Ba Ria - Vung Tau also needs to leave the game soon to focus on competing with Pho Hien, S.Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh to earn a ticket to V.League 2021.

If they overcome Vung Tau, coach Quang Truong and his team will start to face difficulties, because their opponent is the winner of the match between Ho Chi Minh City and SHB Da Nang. With their current form, Van Khanh will most likely meet Phi Son and Cong Phuong - players who are playing for the Thong Nhat Stadium team.

When in trouble

If, as predicted, Ho Chi Minh City surpasses Da Nang, SLNA will indeed face more difficulties. Simply put, the team of Club President Huu Thang is too strong. Another disadvantage is that when playing against a V.League team, both teams are allowed to play foreign players, and needless to say, people know that the quality of the Nghe An team's foreign players is only average.

If they beat runner-up Ho Chi Minh City, SLNA will likely face coach Chu Dinh Nghiem and his team. Photo: Duc Anh

Not yet over, this bracket also includes the defending champion Hanoi. In the round of 16, coach Chu Dinh Nghiem and his team will host Dong Thap. The team just changed their head coach a few hours before playing against Hai Phong and won. With a full squad, getting 3 points at Hang Day Stadium is still difficult, let alone 8 young players who have just been banned by the VFF for participating in gambling.

Hanoi FC will meet the winner of the Can Tho vs Binh Phuoc match. In this context, no First Division team can make it difficult for the V.League and National Cup champions. Thus, if they beat runner-up Ho Chi Minh City, SLNA will likely face coach Chu Dinh Nghiem and his team. For many seasons now, Hanoi FC has always played "destructively" when meeting the Nghe An team, regardless of playing away or at home. The class gap between Hanoi FC and SLNA is huge and cannot be bridged overnight.

The National Cup schedule does not favor SLNA. Photo: VPF

Affirming that Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi FC are truly 2 "rocks" for SLNA, even for the Vietnamese football field at this time. No one believes that SLNA will overcome this curve, even luck cannot happen continuously. These are also 2 teams that are considered to continue competing for the V.League championship this season. Obviously, the branch with SLNA has more strong opponents than the other branch with only Viettel and Quang Ninh considered superior. Teams like Binh Duong, Quang Nam, Thanh Hoa... as well as SLNA, have little hope of going far.

Once the goal is determined from the beginning, the coaching board, players and even the Nghe An audience will be more comfortable when evaluating the team. Let the young players be trained further on this front to become stronger and stronger enough to compete in the National Cup. The audience has been supporting this point of view, the SLNA coaching board needs to be more bold when using young players.