Looking back at the "fake moves" on Vinh field

The away team B.Binh Duong is in good form, in the first two matches they held the home team Thanh Hoa to a 1-1 draw and defeated Da Nang 3-1. If counting the 0-0 draw against Persija Jakarta (Indonesia) at the AFC Cup 2019, the team from the land of Thu has had 3 matches without knowing the taste of defeat. This shows that coach Tran Minh Chien and his team have made quite thorough physical and tactical preparations for the season that promises to be full of difficulties and tension.

The homeowner used a strange brush.

In this match, the home team SLNA had quite a few injured players such as Van Duc, 2 goalkeepers Nguyen Manh, Van Hung, along with the players Xuan Manh, Sy Sam, The Cuong, Phuc Tinh, Tuan Tai. Even in this match, goalkeeper Nguyen Manh with his arm bandaged was also on the reserve list because the home team had no one to replace him. Surprisingly, coach Duc Thang arranged right-back Sy Nam to play left-wing midfielder instead of midfielder Quang Tinh as many people had expected.

Playing against his forte, Sy Nam played impressively. Photo: VFF

The appearance of Sy Nam on the left wing along with defender Dinh Dong neutralized the young striker Sy Giap. The player who had just scored two goals against SHB.Da Nang could not penetrate deep into this side of the home team. Even when Le Tan Tai entered the field, coach Minh Chien pushed Dong Trieu to this wing, but this former HAGL player could not exert his effect. The duo Sy Nam - Dinh Dong covered each other quite well, especially Dinh Dong was very good at tackling to cause frustration and disrupt the opponent's play.

To counter SLNA's through passes, B.Binh Duong used the central midfielder pair Dinh Hoang Max and Dong Trieu to closely mark the "explosive" Khac Ngoc in the midfield. The visiting team's central defenders were two foreign players Veniamin and Rabo Ali, who had quite large bodies and stamina. Surely B.Binh Duong's coaching staff had prepared a lot of plans to intercept long passes so that the midfielders could attack the goal of goalkeeper Tan Truong. But in this match, SLNA used a lot of short passes, unexpected backheels, and one-touch kicks to approach the goal of goalkeeper Tan Truong.

Many of the away team's players were surprised when midfielder Van Binh appeared on the right wing to assist Olaha in scoring a header. The second goal started from a cross from the left wing by Dos Santos, allowing Olaha to make a one-touch pass to Xuan Thang to score. In this match, both foreign players Olaha Michael and Dos Santos moved wide to allow Khac Ngoc and Xuan Thang to appear as "virtual strikers" to penetrate the opponent's 16.5m penalty area.

If handled well, both Khac Ngoc and Sy Nam could have scored goals after being assisted by their teammates. These were moves that SLNA rarely used before, it was true that "necessity is the mother of invention" so B.Binh Duong players were surprised. In a match with many injured players, SLNA's coaching staff used a strange formation and a strange style of play, which caused B.Binh Duong's match preparation to go bankrupt.

The class of a former national player

Both Olaha and captain Van Binh played very well in this match. Photo: Duc Anh

“Veteran” Tan Tai, who came off the bench, also showed his class as a national team player with a free kick that fooled the entire defense of the Nghe An team. From the free kick situation on the right wing of the Vinh team, almost everyone would think that number 14 would make a long pass to Binh Duong players with good height such as Anh Duc, Veniamin, Dinh Hoang Max, Rabo Ali to score in the air.

But in reality, this former national player made a low pass to Anh Tai, the left-footed player took a low, powerful shot to score. In this situation, Binh Duong was a bit lucky when the ball lightly touched the foot of a SLNA player, making goalkeeper Van Tien startled and forced to give up, but Tan Tai's free kick intention was impeccable.