V-League 2017 schedule: SLNA will face difficulties

(Baonghean.vn) - As of the opening day of V-League against neighbor FLC Thanh Hoa, SLNA only has less than 2 months left to prepare for a 'mountain of work'.

SLNA faces 'difficulties'

According to the match schedule, in the first leg, SLNA will meet FLC Thanh (Sk-away); SXKT.Can Tho, S.Khanh Hoa (Sn-home), Long An (Sk), QNK Quang Nam (Sn), Than QN (Sk), SHB.Da Nang, B.Binh Duong (Sn), Saigon (Sk), HAGL (Sn), Hai Phong (Sk), Ho Chi Minh City Club (Sn) and Hanoi. T&T (Sk).

So SLNA has 7 home matches against: SXKT.Can Tho, S.Khanh Hoa, QNK Quang Nam, SHB.Da Nang, B.Binh Duong, HAGL, Ho Chi Minh City Club and 6 away matches against: FLC Thanh Hoa, Long An, Than QN, Saigon, Hai Phong, Hanoi. T&T.

Many people think that the new coach Duc Thang will have an easy match schedule when in the first 5 rounds, except for the strong FLC Thanh Hoa, they only met average opponents such as SXKT.Can Tho, S.Khanh Hoa, Long An, QNK Quang Nam. In theory, it is best to meet opponents from weak to strong so that the players can gradually perfect their playing style. But those who know SLNA have the opposite opinion.

Firstly, SLNA is traditionally a “diesel engine” with a slow start, partly due to the late arrival of foreign players, and the squad has many young players, who are playing and assembling at the same time. Not to mention, this is the first time Duc Thang has sat in the hot seat of the new head coach to lead the team to participate in the V-League, right in the situation of “young teachers, young singers”. Even assistant Thinh “black” although he has a lot of experience but has been away from the V-League environment for a long time also needs to restart. Not to mention, SLNA still has to gather players from the clubs, promote youth players, say goodbye to Minh Duc, Van Vinh…

SLNA entered the new season with many changes in both coach and players on the field.

Thus, until the opening day against neighbor FLC Thanh Hoa, SLNA has only less than 2 months to prepare for the "mountain of work". Normally, before the V-League starts, SLNA will participate in 2 friendly tournaments with 5-6 team formation matches, this year there will be only 2-3 test matches.

It is known that SLNA's coaching board has been eyeing new foreign players, but in recent years due to many difficulties, the Nghe An team has never had a satisfactory foreign player. Even domestic players and Nghe An fans do not know how the coaching board will "fix the basic errors" in the defense and the organizing midfield position. When Dinh Hoang is injured and Manh Hung has not regained his form, SLNA's defense is the weakest point that needs to be urgently reinforced.

With the specific context, SLNA's coaching board may have to solve each match and it is difficult to calculate the long term. In our opinion, it is very likely that the opening match of FLC Thanh Hoa will not give SLNA points when they come as guests, but the key when returning to Vinh Stadium is that the Nghe team must earn 4 points in 2 matches against SXKT.Can Tho and S.Khanh Hoa to create momentum for the whole season.

With a schedule to meet 4 strong teams: FLC Thanh Hoa, Than QN, Hai Phong, Ha Noi T&T on away field, fans believe that if SLNA ends the first leg with 18 points, it will be considered satisfactory. But what the Nghe An audience cares about most is that SLNA's coaching staff will soon show a fiery, Nghe-style football rather than points.

I give you

In 2017, the U19 Vietnam team will participate in the U20 World Cup held in Korea in May and the U23 Vietnam team will participate in the 29th SEA Games held in August. That forced the VFF to schedule the V-League 2017 to last nearly 11 months, 4 months longer than the 2016 season. Accordingly, the V-League 2017 will open on January 8 and end on October 29.

Vietnam U19 will attend the U20 World Cup held in Korea in May 2017.

During those 10 months, V-League will have four breaks with the longest break starting from round 19 (July 2) to round 20 (September 9), or more than two months. This break is to serve the U23 Vietnam team of Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, and Xuan Truong competing at the 29th SEA Games.

Obviously, this is a big disadvantage for the clubs, the extended tournament increases the budget but obviously when many U19 Vietnam players are playing in the First Division and V-League, this is a solution that the teams must accept for the national interest. An official of the Organizing Committee said that the match schedule has been agreed but the specific date will be announced after the match schedule of the two clubs Hanoi T&T and Than Quang Ninh in the AFC Champions League 2017.

That spirit was responded to by representatives of clubs participating in V-League 2017 with a high consensus, not only in football but in all fields, national interests must always be put first.

N@T