'Endoscopy' of neighbor Dong A Thanh Hoa before the match against Song Lam Nghe An

Newcomer Gustavo Costa Balotelli has shown his ability to quickly maneuver through the jungle of Viettel players, scoring the first goal for the team. Obviously, compared to Trong Hung, the Brazilian striker plays energetically, has the ability to make a difference thanks to his good physical foundation. Playing the highest in the 4-2-3-1 formation, Balotelli will make Que Ngoc Hai have to concentrate on playing. In the first leg at Vinh Stadium, the Serbian coach played with 2 foreign central defenders, the goal was to win 1 point and they achieved their goal when the result was a 0-0 draw.

Quality foreign players

With 3 midfielders Van Thang (2 goals), Quoc Phuong, Thanh Long, interim coach Svetislav Tanasijevic asked Van Thang and Quoc Phuong to harass, penetrating from the wing into the center backs. Captain Van Thang is a versatile player, moving widely, can drop back to play as a central midfielder or switch wings with Quoc Phuong.

Dong A Thanh Hoa's Quoc Phuong's speed will threaten SLNA's center back Ba Sang. Photo: VPF

In the home team's tactics, Thanh Long will be the author of mid-range passes, and passes behind the 3 central defenders of Nghe An. Ze Paulo is a central midfielder but has so far scored 3 goals, showing that the Brazilian midfielder is the most formidable name of the home team.

With a 3-1-4-2 formation, all 3 foreign positions are reserved for the attack line, the defense line is 100% domestic, the away teamLam River Nghe Anmust balance between attack and defense. The home team's foreign pair Zé Paulo and Gustavo Costa Balotelli played enthusiastically, threw themselves into the fight and were ready to collide in the disputes. If the central defenders Thế Nhật and Bá Sang did not distribute their physical strength well, they would have a hard time marking people at the end of the match.

Surprisingly, the Dong A Thanh Hoa defenders contributed 2 goals for the neighboring team Thanh Hoa. In addition to center back Minh Tung, left back Dam Tien Dung also contributed 1 goal, center back Gustavo Santos when playing for Song Lam Nghe An also had 2 goals with his head. In set-piece situations, Minh Tung and Gustavo Santos are often present within the opponent's 16.5m box.

Will Olaha score a third goal at Thanh Hoa Stadium? Photo: VPF

Question mark for reserve force

The home team's weakness is that their squad is quite thin, with a significant difference in quality between the starting and reserve players. Central midfielder Huu Dung is not trusted, and 34-year-old striker Dinh Tung is quite slow. On the attack line, Ngoc Nam and Trong Hung have not shown their effectiveness when coming on from the bench, while defender Vu Xuan Cuong mainly participates in defense rather than attack. Therefore, the coaching staff of Dong A Thanh Hoa often has difficulty when changing tactics because they do not have many quality reserve players like Song Lam Nghe An.

This season, the highest position of the home team Dong A Thanh Hoa is 7th, while the lowest position of Song Lam Nghe An is 6th. This is the North Central derby, if they win, Dong A Thanh Hoa will have the opportunity to enter the top group for the first time, but without the service of coach Petrovic, will they be able to do it?