SLNA remembers the prestige of Huu Thang

SLNA under coach Nguyen Huu Thang was only penalized once by the referee at the end of the match, while coach Ngo Quang Truong, who had just led the team for 2 matches at Vinh Stadium, was immediately penalized in the final minutes, when the match was tied 0-0 and the decision to award a penalty stemmed from an unclear situation in determining the point of the foul (handball) inside or outside the penalty area.

In 2011, in the match between SLNA and HA.GL when the score was 2-1 in favor of the home team Vinh Stadium, referee Vo Minh Tri awarded the away team a penalty after he judged that defender Huy Hoang had used his hand to play the ball in the penalty area. At this time, the match had entered extra time. This was a situation where referee Vo Minh Tri "guessed" Huy Hoang's behavior and blew the whistle incorrectly, thanks to which HA.GL earned a draw at Vinh Stadium.

Of course, Coach Huu Thang reacted strongly. Besides the fact that Coach Huu Thang dragged Captain Huy Hoang into the press conference room to react to the press after the match ended, the next day SLNA sent an official dispatch requesting that referee Vo Minh Tri not be assigned to officiate SLNA matches that season.

That was also the only time SLNA was awarded a penalty right at Vinh Stadium at the end of the match when coach Nguyen Huu Thang was sitting on the coaching bench.

SLNA (left) lost its strength even when playing at Vinh Stadium. Photo: VSI

Talking about the referees' decisions at SLNA, Coach Huu Thang said: "I do not discuss or evaluate the referees' decisions, because they are also human and can make mistakes. Many SLNA matches were unfairly blown by the referees, but we only know that, I had no choice but to react to the tournament's Organizing Committee, because we know that even if we complain, we cannot change the match results."

Previously, in SLNA's matches at Vinh Stadium, if he felt the referee was pressuring SLNA, Coach Huu Thang would always take the initiative to react to the referee, but he always told his players to restrain themselves and not react.

Coach Huu Thang himself once held a bottle of cold water and poured it on defender Dinh Dong's head to remind his players to cool down after the referee blew the whistle wrongly in a play on Hang Day Stadium in a match against host Hanoi.T&T in 2013, but Mr. Thang was ready to run onto the field to "argue" with the referee because of the decision to give Cong Vinh a yellow card for celebrating in the 2014 season.

Returning to the match on the afternoon of January 21, when the match entered the final minute, referee Tran Van Lap blew the whistle to award the away team a penalty kick due to defender Dinh Hoang's handball.

Previously, referee Van Lap had been very fair and accurate. However, the penalty situation at the end of the match surprised not only SLNA but also B.Binh Duong.

The proof is that coach Nguyen Thanh Son of B.Binh Duong said this in the press conference: "I didn't think we could score from a penalty situation like that."

As for coach Huu Thang, commenting on referee Tran Van Lap's decision to blow the penalty, he said: "I don't know much about referee Lap, but I think he handled the situation quite well. However, I think that a penalty should not have been blown because the foul point was too sensitive."

According to TTVH