'Strong does not always win!'

(Baonghean) - Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia - Executive Vice President of SLNA Club discussed the SLNA youth teams participating in the 2016 national youth tournaments: "To win in football, in addition to expertise, luck is also a factor..."

U13 SLNA "dropped" the Gold Medal

PV:According to you, what is the reason that in the decisive matches at the recent national youth tournaments, SLNA's U11, U13, and U17 teams lost so regrettably?

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:To win in football, in addition to expertise, luck also comes along. Like the recent U13 national final, we had the better game, but the kids couldn't finish the match. When the match went to penalty kicks, it was mostly luck.

With the U11 team this year, we determined that it would not be difficult for them to get a bronze medal. But after the U13 team lost in the final, we decided to play “5 win, 5 lose” to get into the final to compete for the gold medal, but in the semi-final, we met the defending champion Hai Duong and had to decide the match on penalties.

PV:Many people think that SLNA's youth training is going downhill, what do you think about this?

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:In a particular match or tournament, the results may not be as expected, but the most important thing is that we still produce products and provide quality players for the first team to play in the V.League. While the first team of SLNA often suffers from "player loss", we still have young players to replace them.

SLNA's training goal is not like some other places where they only focus on the youth team's achievements and then they don't care about the players. Meanwhile, we have to have achievements but also have players to supplement the first team.

So it is not true to say that SLNA youth training is going downhill, but now there are places that have invested heavily. Simply like at Viettel, the diet for young players is 210,000 VND/day, while in our country it is only 90,000 VND/day, not to mention other training and training equipment conditions. We only have 90,000 VND but asking for more than 210,000 VND/day is difficult, while in many other conditions we are still not equal!

Currently, competing for a Gold Medal at the national youth tournament is not simple because we also have to compete with many other youth training centers with large investments such as: Viettel, VPF, Hanoi T&T...

In youth football training, we must evaluate comprehensively, not just because of a medal to complete the task. For example, when watching a match, we need to evaluate whether we are the underdog or the favorite.

Compared to football training centers across the country, the work of training people to produce specific products like SLNA is not inferior.

PV:According to you, why did U17 SLNA have such good matches recently but did not advance to the final?

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:In fact, U17 played very well in the first 3 matches at the finals, but in the last decisive match against U17 Viettel, we were leading but let the opponent take the lead. In football, anything can happen. This year, we hope that U17 will at least win a bronze medal, without a bronze medal, the mission has not been completed. We have the strength but in one temporary match, we could not solve the problem.

PV:So with the U15 team preparing to participate in the national tournament, do we have hope for a medal?

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:This year the goal was for the U13 team to win the gold medal, but they missed out. As for the U15 team, they have to at least reach the semi-finals before we can think about it. I haven't given them the medals yet, because that would put pressure on them.

U15 as well as other SLNA youth teams, our quality, expertise, and people are not inferior to other centers. But in a specific match or tournament, nothing can be said in advance. It is not better than winning!

PV:Thank you!

Duc Dung(Perform)