Phan Van Duc and SLNA players practice with the youth team to 'maintain' Vinh stadium

The match between SLNA Club and B. Binh Duong in round 2 of V.League 2020 took place with a 1-0 victory for the Nghe team. However, the mark of this match did not only come from the brilliance of Phan Van Duc but also the degraded field, causing the audience watching on TV to react harshly on social networks.

Currently, SLNA currently has about 260 professional athletes, not to mention many other amateur athletes who are training with the U10, U11, U12, U13, U14, U15, U17, U19 and U21 SLNA classes. With 2 artificial turf training fields (1 field built in 2010, 1 field renovated in 2019) and 1 natural grass field, hundreds of athletes have to share a training field.

Vinh Stadium before V.League 2020. Photo: Trung Kien

This forces Vinh Stadium to share with youth teams such as U15, U17, U19, U21 to practice together every time the tournament begins. Thus, with an average training density of 5-7 teams/week, not to mention competing, hosting the Qualifying Rounds, Youth League Finals, V.League, Vinh Stadium is at a serious overload level.

The bad pitch may be part of the reason why SLNA suffered dozens of serious injuries in 2019. A former SLNA player, striker Vu Quang Nam, was injured in a match between Ho Chi Minh City Club and the home team and had to stay off the pitch for nearly a year.

Phan Van Duc and his teammates during a training session on the youth team field. Photo: Duc Anh

The problem of the pitch surface has been reported by the audience and all V.League coaches for a long time, but SLNA Club is still struggling with this problem. Not only that, the lighting system of Vinh Stadium only reaches an average of 382 lux, not meeting the minimum requirement of 900 lux to organize night matches as regulated by VFF.

Mr. Ho Van Chiem - Executive Director of SLNA Club said: "We are trying to reduce the training density at Vinh Stadium, limit training to renovate the grass surface during the V.League 2020 postponement period. Accordingly, SLNA professional team will temporarily practice on the youth team's field at this time.

In difficult financial conditions, SLNA Club will try to maintain the grass to have better quality when the tournament returns. Because Vinh Stadium is under the management of Nghe An Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the plan to renovate the grass and lighting system still depends on the Provincial People's Committee."

SLNA practices at the youth team's field in the morning. Photo: Trung Kien

While V.League 2020 has not yet returned, coach Ngo Quang Truong and his team are maintaining two training sessions per day on the youth team's training grounds. According to Mr. Ho Van Chiem, with only one artificial field that meets FIFA standards, many SLNA youth teams have to split up, extending the training session until 7:00 p.m.

According to research, to renovate a field to the quality of Hang Day Stadium or Thong Nhat Stadium, football teams such as Hanoi FC and Ho Chi Minh City FC have had to spend about 7-10 billion VND. In addition, the care and maintenance process is also given special attention. Teams are not allowed to practice here before the match day.

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