SLNA once set a record of 14/26 draws in V.League

V.League 2012 is the season in which SLNA is the defending champion with a core of players at the peak of their careers such as Van Binh, Dinh Dong, Trong Hoang, Au Hoan, Quang Tinh,... along with quality foreign players added such as Abass, Dickson.

SLNA was held to a draw by S. Khanh Hoa at Vinh Stadium. Photo courtesy

And according to statistics when the 2012 season ended, SLNA was the third team in terms of scoring, 44 goals, only behind SHB Da Nang (47) and Hanoi Club (46). In this season, although SLNA had some very exciting victories against Hanoi T&T (6-2), Hai Phong (5-2) or Ninh Binh (5-3), there were too many unlucky matches that ended in a draw in the final minutes of the match.

And in the entire 2012 V.League season, SLNA had 14 draws out of 26 matches and at that time, people jokingly called coach Nguyen Huu Thang "Nguyen Huu Hoa" as proof of an unbelievable record that the Nghe An team "established".

V.League 2019 started, SLNA is no longer the SLNA of 7 years ago. Players like Que Ngoc Hai and Manh Hung are looking for promotion opportunities at new, more ambitious teams. Trong Hoang and Hoang Thinh missed their return to their homeland when the season was just around the corner. Financial resources are not strong enough for SLNA to retain and recall the "old heroes" of the past. After only a few rounds, coach Nguyen Duc Thang's headache became more painful when 2 players Van Duc and Xuan Manh suffered injuries.

Goalkeeper Nguyen Manh returns after injury. Photo: Archive

Amidst all these difficulties, SLNA welcomed the return of Nguyen Manh after his injury and veteran Dinh Dong returning after his contract with Thanh Hoa Club expired. Together with the foreign player from Serbia, the quality contract named Memovic and 2 young players Dinh Hoang, Van Khanh, SLNA has had an extremely solid defensive wall. That can be proven through the past 10 rounds, the Nghe An team has only conceded 5 goals, of which 4 were in the comprehensive 0-4 defeat to the home team Hanoi at Hang Day Stadium.

Despite having a solid backline, SLNA's attack was extremely weak despite having met teams at the bottom of the rankings. Van Binh was no longer at his peak, Van Duc had not returned, and foreign player Alves dos Santos had not shown much. Only Khac Ngoc and Olaha were not enough to help SLNA find scoring opportunities.

Coach Nguyen Duc Thang looks forward to the return of Phan Van Duc. Photo: Archive

Without early tactical adjustments, without the return of Van Duc or a replacement in the striker position to share the goal-scoring duties with Olaha, SLNA will likely continue their streak of goalless matches and may also have new unhappy records set.

Sy Hieu