SLNA lost to Persija, what is there to be ashamed of?
(Baonghean.vn) - Everything would be perfect if coach Duc Thang and his students could get 1 point at Bung Kano Stadium. However, SLNA's performance at AFC Cup 2018 up to now is beyond reproach.
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| SLNA's coaching staff must carefully calculate to be ready for the three fronts of V.League, National Cup and AFC Cup. Photo courtesy |
In the first match, SLNA beat Tampines Rover right in Singapore with a score of 2-0. And to get the first 3 points, the Nghe An team had to pay a very high price with the injury of captain Tran Nguyen Manh.
In the second match, coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team defeated the pride of Malaysian football, Johor Darul Ta'zim, 2-0 at Vinh Stadium before holding Persija Jakarta to a 0-0 draw despite being short-handed.
In those 3 matches, although they had not yet added foreign players, it was clear that SLNA played with a very serious attitude with all the best forces they had. Thereby, they proudly ranked first in group H with an undefeated record.
Until the match against Persija Jakarta on the opponent's field, Coach Duc Thang was forced to consider for V.League 2018 which was approaching just 3 days later. At Bung Karno Stadium, not only was there no foreign players, SLNA only deployed key players such as Van Khanh, Xuan Manh... That was enough for the away team to cause too many difficulties for the opponent who was playing at home with 2 Brazilian foreign players, 1 Croatian foreign player.
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| Young SLNA players compete with determination in Indonesia. Photo: Indosports |
SLNA's loss only came in the last minute, in the context of a home team player being injured and not yet entering the field. Although inferior to the opponent in terms of finishing and ball control, but to be fair, the defender quartet Dinh Hoang, Van Khanh - The Nhat and Ngoc Duc had a very good day of competition.
The most important thing is that SLNA is still at the top of Group H with 7 points, equal to Persija and Johor DT but with a better goal difference. This means that everything is still under the control of the Vietnamese football representative.
In the remaining two matches of the AFC Cup, SLNA is fully capable of defeating Tampines Rover at home to get 10 points while Persija and Johor DT meet.
In the final round, SLNA will visit Johor Darul Ta'zim and if they lose, the Nghe An team still has the chance to advance as the second-placed team with the best record. Currently, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (7 points) in Group A, Home United (7 points) in Group F and Persija Jakarta are the second-placed teams with the best record.
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| SLNA is still at the top of Group H, AFC Cup 2018. Photo: AFC |
Those who love SLNA in particular and Vietnamese fans, everyone wants the Nghe An team to win, but they are too caught up in the AFC Cup and forget the important task in V.League, coach Duc Thang will be the one who must take the highest responsibility. When everything is still not settled, do not rush to blame SLNA.
Losing the first match against Persija with a reserve team is not a big deal. Let’s assume that SLNA played at Vinh Stadium with 3 foreign players and the strongest team, received the support of more than 40,000 home fans and lost to the Indonesian representative who was “conceding” foreign players, deployed a reserve team and lost the top spot, that would be a shameful thing./.
SLNA lost to Persija Jakarta in cruel extra time
(Baonghean.vn) - SLNA brought a reserve team to Indonesia to participate in the second leg of the 2018 AFC Cup group stage against Persija Jakarta and were cruelly defeated in extra time.
