Play-off 2018: Youth or experience?

This match will not use foreign players so it promises to be a fierce and uncompromising match. Will the youth of Hanoi B players or the experience of Nam Dinh be brought into play?

First of all, Vinh Stadium was chosen as the neutral stadium for the billion-dollar play-off match because it is the intermediate stadium between Ha Tinh and Nam Dinh. To avoid legal troubles of “one owner, two V-League teams”, the capital team will “change the name and ownership” before playing the play-off match with Nam Dinh and then Ha Tinh will be the headquarters of Minh Duc and his team.

Young teacher, young singer

According to the principle, the team must have at least 14 players or more to be transferred. Our source said that only 16 players will belong to Ha Tinh Club (new name in the future) and the remaining 14 names will be assigned to coach Pham Minh Duc to play as secondees.

Everyone knows that Hanoi B Club is the “backyard” of Hanoi team, the 2018 V.League champion. Theoretically, these two capital teams cannot participate in the same tournament, so Mr. Hien will “transfer” this team to Mr. Vuong, a son of Ha Tinh.

Hanoi B players will be given the new name Ha Tinh in the play-off match. Photo: Internet

If Nam Dinh’s presence in Vinh is not surprising to many people, then Hanoi B’s participation in the play-off match is a surprise to experts. Because before the 2018 First Division started, coach Pham Minh Duc and his team, along with names like CAND or Binh Dinh Club, were “named and shamed” for a direct relegation to the 2019 Second Division.

True to the situation of "young teachers, even younger singers", in the first 4 rounds of the First Division, Hanoi B Club only won 3 points, including a 0-3 loss at home to Hue. By the end of the first leg, coach Pham Minh Duc and his team unexpectedly entered the top 3, everything went in a positive direction for the Hang Day home team. In the second leg, they had an 8-match unbeaten streak to finish second, behind Viettel.

The core of Hanoi B is the U21 players trained by Hanoi FC, in which Pham Tuan Hai and Tran Duc Nam can be considered the two most dangerous attacking players. Pham Tuan Hai scored 9 goals and Tran Duc Nam scored 7 goals.

The goals of these two players born in 1998 accounted for half of the goals of Hanoi B in the 2018 First Division. The midfield with the names Hoang Anh, Viet Anh and Van Nam, Trung Hoc are players who have competed in many youth tournaments and matured quickly this season.

Mr. Hien continues to "make things difficult" for Nam Dinh when he once again offers a reward of 3 billion VND to coach Pham Minh Duc and his students. But in any case, compared to the reward given to Can Tho, this time it is more legitimate as Ha Noi B, which is the offspring of a boss with a lot of influence on Vietnamese football.

With an average age of 19.8, much lower than the average age of the players of the team from Thanh Nam (25.8), experience is definitely what coach Pham Minh Duc's students lack. They play aggressively and enthusiastically, but how to adjust the speed of the match and distribute their strength appropriately to the situation on the field is something that will take more time.

The final challenge

Although not allowed to deploy foreign players, Nam Dinh still has the service of naturalized goalkeeper Quoc Thien Esele because the match organizers allow both sides to use a maximum of 1 naturalized player/team. VPF also stipulates that in this play-off match, which only lasts 90 minutes of the two regular halves, it is also considered an advantage when Esele is considered better than goalkeeper Quang Tuan. If after 90 minutes, the two teams have a draw, Nam Dinh and Hanoi B will take a penalty shootout to determine the winner.

Will Nam Dinh enjoy joy once again? Photo: Internet

Although Vinh Stadium is closer, Nam Dinh will certainly have more fans. Ha Tinh fans have not yet had time to "get used to" the team that will play in their hometown's colors next season, but coach Van Sy and his team will have the "joint forces" of Hai Phong - Thanh Hoa - Nam Dinh in the stands to cheer for the team from Thanh Nam.

20 billion VND of budget capital has been transferred to the account, 82 million VND of fan donations have been received, the whole team is in high spirits after the draw at Can Tho Stadium, along with more experience in the game, these are the advantages of Nam Dinh. The biggest problem of Nam Dinh is to materialize it with goals, avoiding bringing the match to the point of deciding the winner or loser by luck on the penalty spot.