'Being stronger doesn't always mean winning!'

(Baonghean) - Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia - Deputy Director of SLNA Club, discussed the SLNA youth teams' participation in the 2016 national youth tournaments: "To win in football, besides professional skills, luck also plays a role..."

SLNA U13 team "drops" the Gold Medal.

PV:According to you, what were the reasons why the U11, U13, and U17 teams of SLNA suffered such disappointing defeats in crucial matches at the recent national youth tournaments?

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:To win in football, besides skill, luck also plays a role. Like in the recent national U13 final, we had the upper hand, but the players couldn't finish the game. When the match went to a penalty shootout, it was largely a matter of chance.

With the U11 team this year, we were confident that winning the bronze medal wouldn't be difficult. But after the U13 team lost in the final, we decided to play a "50/50" game to reach the final and compete for the gold medal. However, in the semi-final, we faced the defending champions Hai Duong and had to settle the match on penalties.

PV:Many people believe that SLNA's youth training program is declining. What are your thoughts on this?

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:In a particular match, or in a tournament, the results may not be as desired, but the most important thing is that we still produce quality players and provide them to the first team playing in the V.League. While the SLNA first team is constantly losing players, we still have young players to replace them.

SLNA's training objectives are not like those of some other places where they focus solely on achieving results with their youth teams without caring about the players' future. Instead, we need to achieve success while also producing players to supplement the first team.

It's incorrect to say that SLNA's youth training is declining; some places have invested heavily. For example, at Viettel, the daily food allowance for young players is 210,000 VND, while at Viettel it's only 90,000 VND, not to mention other training and coaching facilities. It's difficult to expect over 210,000 VND per day when we only provide 90,000 VND, especially considering we still fall short in many other aspects!

Currently, winning a gold medal at the national youth championship is not easy because we have to compete with many other well-invested youth training centers such as Viettel, VPF, Hanoi T&T, etc.

In youth football training, we must conduct a comprehensive assessment, not just consider a single medal as the only way to complete the task. For example, when watching a match, we need to assess whether we are the underdog or the favorite.

Compared to other football training centers nationwide, SLNA's efforts in training players to produce tangible results are in no way inferior.

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

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:Actually, the U17 team played very well in the first three matches of the finals, but in the decisive final match against U17 Viettel, we were leading but then let the opponent take the lead. In football, anything can happen. This year, we hoped the U17 team would at least win the bronze medal; not winning a bronze medal would mean we haven't fulfilled our mission. We had the strength, but in a momentary lapse in concentration in one match, we couldn't solve the problem.

PV:So, with the U15 team preparing for the national tournament, do we have any hopes of winning a medal?

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia:The goal this year was for the U13 team to win the gold medal, but they missed out. As for the U15 team, the minimum requirement is to reach the semi-finals before we can even think about anything else; we haven't awarded medals yet, as that would put too much pressure on the players.

Like other SLNA youth teams, our U15 team is not inferior to other centers in terms of quality, expertise, and personnel. However, in a specific match or tournament, nothing can be said for certain. Being better doesn't always mean winning!

PV:Thank you, sir!

Duc Dung(Perform)