Fair-play, O Gabriel Dos Santos!

Foreign player Gabriel Dos Santos came to Quang Nam in January 2019, from Udon Thani FC of Thailand. Accordingly, this Brazilian striker is the 6th new player of Quang Nam FC in the 2019 season, along with prominent names such as Dinh Viet Tu, Quoc Chi, Anh Hung, Dao Duy Khanh, Duc Loc.

For a long time, SLNA's confrontations with Quang Nam, regardless of home or away, have had many goals. The two teams always play openly, devotedly and know how to "keep each other's feet and legs", playing fiercely but not brutally. The match at Tam Ky Stadium in round 26 ended with a score of 2-2, but the ending did not make either team happy.

Referee responsibility

The equalizer at the end of the match by the foreign player of Quang Nam earned the home team Tam Ky 1 ​​point, climbing 1 place to finish the season in 9th place. After this goal, SLNA dropped 3 places, finishing in 7th place of this year's football season, all the sweat and effort of the coaching staff and players went down the river, down the sea.

Referee Hoang Anh Tuan has always been a controversial figure on Vietnamese football fields in recent seasons. Photo: VPF

The first person to be condemned is referee Hoang Anh Tuan, he did not blow the whistle in the situation where Ha Minh Tuan used his hand to hit the SLNA goalkeeper in the neck in the 5.5m area. According to the law, this is the goalkeeper protection area, so the action of the Quang Nam striker is illegal, surely the king of the field Tuan "Thanh Tri" will be considered by the Referee Board.

But clearly, in terms of football ethics, foreign player Gabriel Dos Santos did not behave well. Before kicking the ball into SLNA's net, Gabriel Dos Santos clearly saw goalkeeper Van Tien lying on the field, the goal was empty. Many professional players in that situation would have proactively kicked the ball out of the field so that the doctors could take care of the opponent.

In football, especially in professional matches, people always uphold the spirit of chivalry, not continuing to hit if the opponent has fallen. In the last match, when the SLNA goalkeeper fell to the ground, the Nghe An players signaled for the home team to kick the ball out of bounds.

Coming to Vietnam to compete, many foreign players have left a good image on the field. Player Abass (B.Binh Duong) once received the Fair-play award. At that time, he was injured by Thanh Hao in the final match of the 2015 National Cup.

During the time he was in the hospital for surgery, Thanh Hao visited him. Abass encouraged Thanh Hao not to worry too much but to focus on the team because Abass understood that Thanh Hao was just passionate about the ball and not intentionally playing violently... Very Fair-play!

In fact, before round 26, there was a 99% chance that Than Quang Ninh would finish in 3rd place, the relegation battle was just an internal matter between S.Khanh Hoa and Thanh Hoa. In that context, the audience only hoped for dedicated matches, ending a season with too many refereeing problems, flares, and violence.

But the straight shot into SLNA's empty goal at Tam Ky stadium greatly reduced the affection for Gabriel Dos Santos.

Player blame

Coming from Brazil, a world-class professional football country, this foreign player (left photo) behaved foolishly. Photo: VPF

Gabriel Dos Santos' goal was not illegal, that's for sure. But this was a goal that even the coaching staff and players of the home team Quang Nam did not dare to celebrate, the Tam Ky audience did not applaud, and the opponent was not convinced. Not to mention thousands of domestic and international television viewers will judge the Fair-play spirit of Vietnamese football.

Not to mention, Gabriel Dos Santos once "turned on his teacher" to recreate the incident of "Kepa turning on his teacher at Chelsea" in early 2019 in the match against Viettel, refusing to go on the field when the coaching staff asked for a substitution. Coming from Brazil, a world-class professional football country, this foreign player behaved foolishly.

Quang Nam had a great sprint in the second leg of V.League 2019 and more or less won the sympathy of the fans. But Gabriel Dos Santos' goal at Tam Ky stadium erased the beautiful image of a united and fair-playing team for a long time.

For Nghe An audiences, the question is: Is it necessary to do everything possible to take away a victory from SLNA? Please leave it to referee Hoang Anh Tuan, who has had a long history with Nghe An football.