Nghe An Football 2015: A Contrasting Picture

• January 2, 2016 11:04

(Baonghean) - While the V-League team and SLNA's youth teams not only failed to win any titles but also created scandals, in the amateur arena, tournaments flourished with many diverse forms of competition...

Sad exclamation mark

In early September 2015, from the plan to “burn” Vinh city in the last match of V-League 2015 when SLNA met SHB.Da Nang, on forums, Nghe An Fan Club announced the cancellation and immediately announced the end of cheering activities for the 2015 season. This action, whether spontaneous or carefully considered, was a sad exclamation point for a year of dismal performance of SLNA teams, in both professional and youth leagues.

In the professional arena, SLNA started the 2015 season with a big change on the coaching bench. Coach Nguyen Huu Thang - who contributed greatly to SLNA winning the V-League championship in the 2011 season and was a spiritual support for the players, left after more than 4 years of association. The person chosen to replace him was also another veteran of SLNA, U17 coach Ngo Quang Truong. Along with that, veteran player Le Cong Vinh, Captain of the 2014 season, also left the team to join B.Binh Duong.

SLNA fell many times right on the "holy land" of Vinh in the 2015 season.

Those changes had a big impact on SLNA's performance in the 2015 season. They lost 0-3 to Hai Phong in their first home match, but then they played better and at one point climbed to 2nd place on the rankings. But then, entering the second phase, SLNA showed a completely different face. The Nghe An team lost 5 out of 7 consecutive matches, mostly against weaker teams. Notably, the losses against teams that were "thirsty" for points such as HAGL and Can Tho made the fans angry, and the Fan Club announced a boycott of the team as mentioned above. At the end of the season, SLNA ranked 7th - the lowest position in many years, and more importantly, the team lost the trust and affection that the athletes had for them.

In youth tournaments, SLNA had a year without any trophies. SLNA's U13 and U15 teams did not make any noise and did not even make it to the semi-finals. In the national U17 tournament, the SLNA youth team was also disappointing when they played sluggishly and were completely overshadowed by other elite representatives such as Viettel or PVF and were soon eliminated. In the national U21 qualifying round, despite being the defending champion, after 4 rounds, the Nghe An youth team only had 1 win, 1 draw, lost the remaining 2 matches and ranked 3rd overall.

Pha vào bóng của hậu vệ Quế Ngọc Hải làm gãy chân cầu thủ Anh Khoa (Đà Nẵng)

Defender Que Ngoc Hai's tackle broke the leg of player Anh Khoa (Da Nang).

Not only was the 2015 season of SLNA poor in terms of results, it was also associated with unforgettable scandals. That was the case of central defender Que Ngoc Hai, the most successful symbol of the team in the season, who had a two-footed tackle that seriously injured midfielder Anh Khoa of Da Nang, creating the most controversial verdict in V-League history and losing the opportunity to contribute to the national teams in international tournaments. That was also the case of central defender Manh Hung, after being given a yellow card, rushing to demand a settlement with the referee in the National U21 Championship Qualifiers.

Popular playground movement

While Nghe An professional football had a forgettable year, grassroots football had remarkable developments. In January 2015, for the first time, a provincial grassroots football association was officially established, with legal status, its own headquarters, accounts and seal, operating in accordance with the law and the Association's Charter approved by the competent state agency. This is the inevitable result of the strong development of grassroots football in the province in recent times, with more than 200 clubs and many large and small tournaments organized by the clubs themselves every year.

Các cầu thủ tranh tài ở Vinh League 2015

Players compete in Vinh League 2015.

From the beginning of 2015 until now, Nghe An Amateur Football Association has organized 3 tournaments: "For the poor" Football Tournament for LG An Thinh Cup, "Vinh League 2015" Football Tournament for Chuong Duong Cup, Nghe An First Division Football Tournament for Van Minh Cup and "For people with meritorious services to the revolution" Football Tournament for Hieu Giang Cup. All 4 tournaments have attracted the participation of dozens of the strongest amateur football clubs in Vinh city today such as FC Van Minh, FC Chuong Duong, FC Free, FC BB, FC Hieu Giang, FC Y Lan... and the participation of many famous players of the past such as Van Quyen, Huy Hoang, Lam Tan, Hai Nam, Minh Ngoc,... The attractive thing about this amateur tournament is its cleanliness and healthiness, so the matches always attract a large number of spectators to cheer.

Along with the tournaments of Nghe An Amateur Football Association, in 2015, the province's football also had another playground, which was the 2015 Commune and Ward Football Tournament held at the end of October at Vinh City Stadium. The predecessor was the Provincial Farmers' Football Tournament held since the 1990s. Since 2011, this tournament was renamed the Commune and Ward Football Tournament, and the tournament's regulations have also changed. The participants are not only farmers but also civil servants, public employees, workers and football teams of a district, city or town participating in the tournament, not from many communes and wards as before, but entirely within one commune or ward.

Đội bóng xã Hợp Thành (Yên Thành) giành chức vô địch giải bóng đá xã, phường tỉnh Nghệ An năm 2015

Hop Thanh commune football team (Yen Thanh) won the 2015 Nghe An province commune and ward football championship.

This year, the matches at the Commune and Ward Football Tournament have always been very dramatic, high quality and attracted a large number of spectators to watch. Although each football team of the district, city and town is limited to only one commune or ward, according to the assessment of sports officials, this regulation has encouraged districts, cities and towns to build a model commune or ward for the sports movement in general and football in particular, and at the same time organize district-level tournaments for communes and wards to affirm their strength, contributing to promoting the football movement in particular and mass sports in general in the locality.

Minh Quan