Song Lam Nghe An: Victory to show gratitude to the audience

The better team won

Surprisingly, it was raining, the field was slippery, the ball was wet, but HAGL coach Duong Minh Ninh still decided to play an open game with the home team using a 3-4-3 attacking formation.

Thanh Hau, Cong Phuong and Van Toan lead the attack, while the central midfield pair are Viet Hung and Minh Vuong. The two wings are Olympic players Van Son and Van Thanh - the mobile players along the corridor.

People thought that with 8 Olympic players, the away team would overwhelm the home team with only Van Khanh and Xuan Manh being called up. But on the contrary, with the central midfielder duo Van Binh and Khac Ngoc controlling the midfield, SLNA almost dominated the entire match. The 3-man defense line of A Hoang, A San and Zeba Josip was always "smelled in the dust" by Van Duc, Jeremie Lynch and Michael Olaha whenever they raced for speed.

Foreign player Olaha scored the opening goal and hit the post with a shot. Photo: Thanh Cuong

In the first half, SLNA scored 2 goals quite easily when Michael Olaha quickly broke through and scored from Van Duc's pass when the referee clock showed 13 minutes. At the end of the first half, Xuan Manh left Vinh Stadium to join the Olympic team with a goal from Khac Ngoc's corner kick. There were 4 white shirts, including the 1.87m tall player Zeba Josip, but no one followed this number 11 defender.

In the second half, Van Son and Van Toan coordinated on the right wing, passing the ball to Cong Phuong who cut in front of Dinh Hoang to head the ball to score a "breakaway" goal. But that was all the HAGL players could do on Vinh field before making a mistake from the pass back, allowing Xuan Toan to steal the ball, surpassing goalkeeper Van Truong to score the third goal.

SLNA completely controlled the game, Michael Olaha and Khac Ngoc had thunderous shots but the post and crossbar denied them the chance to score. Jeremie Lynch even put the ball into the net but the referee did not recognize it because he thought he had committed a foul by pressing on a HAGL defender earlier.

SLNA players had the most impressive match since the beginning of the season. The players played hard, covered each other well, and limited mistakes. Facing a midfield that played "embroidered flowers, weaved brocade", SLNA players, with their inherent steel, separated the players from the Mountain City players, not allowing them to coordinate. Even when coach Duong Minh Ninh sent Osmar and Xuan Truong onto the field, and instructed Cong Phuong to play back to play the role of creating, the game still could not change.

Coach Duc Thang had a good match from the tactics, the way he prepared the players mentally before the match. Even when the opponent equalized 1-2, players like Ngoc Hai and Van Binh suppressed the opponent's excitement, quickly restoring the balance of the match. Captain Ngoc Hai corrected the mistakes of his juniors Xuan Manh and Van Khanh at least twice.

Audience appreciation

Nearly 20,000 spectators came to Vinh Stadium to cheer on their hometown team in the rain and wind. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Nearly 20,000 spectators braved the rain to cheer for Van Duc and his teammates and many times they stood up and applauded the beautiful plays of the two teams. With the 3-1 victory, Xuan Manh, in addition to thanking the audience, also performed lullaby movements on the field, as a meaningful gift to congratulate captain Que Ngoc Hai and his wife on the birth of their first daughter, Sunny.

SLNA has made history in V-League by re-establishing the record of 8 consecutive wins set 13 years ago by Gach DTLA. The main thing is that with the 3 points they have gained, they have officially surpassed FLC Thanh Hoa to take 3rd place in the season.

It is difficult to express the feelings of Que Ngoc Hai, the players, and the SLNA coaching staff after this match, because this is something they have waited for so long. Surely, the match with Hanoi FC at Hang Day Stadium in the next round will have thousands of Nghe An fans following the team to cheer them on to set a new record of the V-League.

An Thanh