The championship race is heating up.
(Baonghean) - After more than a week's break for the national team to focus on training and play a friendly match against Manchester City, the V.League 2015 will return this weekend. Besides the already heated relegation battle, the championship race is also entering a fierce stage, with B.Binh Duong and FLC Thanh Hoa, as well as HN.T&T, striving to break away and achieve their goal of winning the title.
The highlight of Round 19 is undoubtedly the "North Central Derby" between the two neighboring teams, FLC Thanh Hoa and SLNA. These two teams have a long and complex history. While in the past, the team from Nghe An province was usually the favorite, in recent years, with significant financial investment, Thanh Hoa has often been considered the stronger team when playing against SLNA. For example, in the 2014 season, the Thanh Hoa team even convincingly defeated SLNA at their home stadium in Vinh.
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| The match between FLC Thanh Hoa and SLNA will be the highlight of round 19. |
Currently, after FLC invested in the team, Thanh Hoa has undergone significant changes, with continued substantial financial injections, and naturally, the goal of winning the championship was immediately set. The dream of winning the Vietnamese football title for the first time was very close at one point, as in the first few rounds of the second half of the season, Thanh Hoa won convincingly and climbed to the top of the standings, 2 points ahead of the strongest contender, B. Binh Duong.
However, in their last two matches, many FLC Thanh Hoa players unexpectedly underperformed and lost two consecutive games. After 18 rounds, FLC Thanh Hoa currently has 34 points, one point less than the league leaders, B. Binh Duong. With the chance of winning the championship still very high, FLC Thanh Hoa is determined to win this weekend's match against SLNA at all costs. Securing three points and boosting morale to continue the race is FLC Thanh Hoa's top priority at this time.
Looking at the fixture list, things don't seem to favor FLC Thanh Hoa. After their match against SLNA, they still have to face many other strong opponents, such as Than Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, SHB Da Nang, and especially their direct rival B. Binh Duong, which they have to play away from home. Meanwhile, for B. Binh Duong, besides the predicted difficult match against HN.T&T at Hang Day Stadium, their remaining opponents are mostly in the lower half of the standings, such as XSKT.Can Tho, Dong Nai, QNK.Quang Nam…
In theory, that's the case, but in reality, whether or not a two-horse race between B.Binh Duong and FLC Thanh Hoa will last until the end of the season remains to be seen, because the Thanh Hoa team is extremely unpredictable, with inconsistent performance, and many people don't yet understand FLC's goals when investing in Thanh Hoa.
In the championship race, FLC Thanh Hoa has become an unknown quantity that no opponent dares to underestimate. However, purely from a professional standpoint, many believe that the opponent B. Binh Duong fears most is not FLC Thanh Hoa but HN.T&T. The capital city team is in a strong run, as evidenced by their "devastating" victory over FLC Thanh Hoa at Hang Day Stadium in the 18th round.
HN.T&T had a slow start, but since the second half of the season began, they have become very stable. Coach Phan Thanh Hung's squad boasts a very balanced quality, from foreign players to domestic ones. If they maintain their recent good form, the 6-point gap behind B.Binh Duong is not too large. Furthermore, in round 21, HN.T&T will host B.Binh Duong at home. If the home team wins, the gap could then be very close, making the championship race likely to be exciting and dramatic.
With 8 rounds remaining in the V.League 2015, and FLC Thanh Hoa spending heavily to realize their dream of winning the championship for the first time, combined with HN.T&T's rapid progress, B.Binh Duong is genuinely worried, and defending their title will be no easy task for the team from Binh Duong.
Vinh Liem