Nam Dinh - SLNA: Breaking the curse at Thien Truong

Trung Kien• July 4, 2018 10:30

(Baonghean.vn) - In their visits to Thien Truong, the Nghe An team has only once won all 3 points. The upcoming match in round 18 is also an opportunity for SLNA to enter the Top. On the contrary, if they stumble, coach Duc Thang and his team will find it difficult to maintain their current position.

Closer to Top 3

After 5 consecutive wins, SLNA has 23 points and is ranked 6th on the rankings. However, coach Duc Thang and his team are only 1 win behind the 3rd place team FLC Thanh Hoa, 1-2 points behind HAGL and Than Quang Ninh respectively.

2018 season standings.

In round 18, FLC Thanh Hoa will visit Saigon, HAGL will welcome the unruly team S. Khanh Hoa BVN at Pleiku Stadium, and Than Quang Ninh will welcome XSKT Can Tho. Therefore, if they win at Thien Truong and the 3 teams above them do not win, SLNA will have a chance to advance. On the contrary, if they lose, the 6th position of the Nghe team will be threatened by Hai Phong and the teams below.

Card obsession

The SLNA player who will have to sit out this round is Pham Xuan Manh with 3 yellow cards. Meanwhile, Nam Dinh has almost the best squad. Que Ngoc Hai, after being absent from the Hai Phong match, has also recovered from an ankle injury.

Que Ngoc Hai and Tran Dinh Hoang also have 4 yellow cards, Hoang Van Khanh has received 2 cards. Therefore, SLNA defenders need to limit receiving more cards if they do not want to be suspended in the next matches.

History of confrontation

In the last 13 meetings at the V.League, SLNA won 6, drew 3 and lost 4. In the history of nearly 20 years, at Thien Truong Stadium, SLNA and its predecessor club have only won once against Nam Dinh. That was in 2010 when SLNA was led by coach Huu Thang and the home team had run out of motivation to compete. This year, Nam Dinh is very eager to win to escape the red light group.

Statistical

Le Sy Minh is the most dangerous player on Nam Dinh's side. At this time, the midfielder of Nam Dinh has 6 goals, he is the player who scored the decisive goal to defeat SLNA 1-0 right at Vinh stadium in the first leg. Meanwhile, Phan Van Duc is the leading scorer of SLNA at this time with 8 goals.

Statistics in V.League 2018, Nam Dinh scored a total of 20 goals but never scored in the first 15 minutes. At the end of the first half, Nam Dinh often played sluggishly and only scored 1 goal in 15 minutes from 30-45.

Song Lam Nghe An lost 0-1 in the first leg at Vinh Stadium. Photo: Duc Anh

However, coach Nguyen Van Sy's players scored 7 goals in the last 15 minutes of the match, something that SLNA needs to pay attention to. Because SLNA rarely scores in the last 15 minutes and is somewhat out of breath. In the previous match against Hai Phong, the Nghe An team lost control of the game in the last 10 minutes and conceded 2 quick goals.

In the second phase of V.League, Nam Dinh has just added striker Diogo Pereira from SHB Da Nang and Alex Rafael. Of these two strikers of Brazilian origin, Pereira scored 2 goals to help Nam Dinh defeat SHB Da Nang 4-2. Thanks to that, in the last 5 matches, if SLNA won all, Nam Dinh also revived with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

Hopefully, the match at Thien Truong Stadium will witness the opportunity to break the "curse" of visiting Nam Dinh of SLNA in recent years. On July 3, Song Lam Nghe An arrived in Nam Dinh. Coach Duc Thang and his team did not travel to Nghe An but stayed in Hai Phong and went straight to Nam Dinh to prepare for the confrontation on July 6.

After the victory over Hai Phong, Coach Nguyen Duc Thang set a goal of getting points against Nam Dinh in the upcoming round 18: "SLNA highly values ​​any opponent, Nam Dinh is no exception, they are a young team and have been playing well in recent rounds. SLNA's goal in the upcoming match is to get points against Nam Dinh."

Trung Kien