Does Song Lam dare to make a "revolution"?

(Baonghean) - The historic penalty for Dinh Dong has awakened many people, including a team with a tradition of playing fiercely and not afraid of collisions like SLNA, which is facing two choices: change to convince viewers or stay loyal to old values ​​to ensure achievements.

Playing with a “die-hard” style has long been the motto of the Nghe An football team. Even the young players, before entering the Song Lam “oven”, were taught about a strong lifestyle and playing style.

From the Dinh Dong incident, making a "revolution" in playing style is an urgent requirement for the Nghe An football team.

Of course, playing football in a “self-sacrificing” style cannot be beautiful and attractive to the audience, and it can easily cause injury to the opponent. However, there is a paradox that the success of the Nghe An football team in the past decades bears the mark of that determination, and people do not hesitate to call it the “specialty” of Nghe An football.

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Coach Nguyen Huu Thang is a well-traveled, knowledgeable person who really wants to revolutionize SLNA's playing style. No one else, this coach Nguyen, has advocated for the players to play beautiful football, convincing the audience. In terms of discipline, Huu Thang is ready to expel a player if he plays maliciously, destroying his opponent. In the past, many players were "suspended" by Coach Nguyen Huu Thang for playing too violently, causing harm to his teammates. However, to make a "revolution" in playing style as Coach Nguyen Huu Thang wishes is not simple, because football seems to reflect the personality of a person. Nghe An people are inherently stubborn, Nghe An players famous for their technique like Cong Vinh or Van Quyen also have times when they "rush into their opponents loudly", let alone other names.

The requirement for a beautiful and dedicated style of play was therefore ineffective, and on the contrary, when forced to play like that, SLNA's performance was not as expected. The early stages of the 2014 season were an example. When demonstrating a beautiful and dedicated style of play, SLNA's performance became very bad, they had 3 consecutive losses. Because of a lot of pressure, especially pressure on points, in the match with HV.An Giang, SLNA had to return to a fierce style of play with the old "specialties". Not beautiful, not flashy; the players even received many penalty cards, but the most important goal was to win, and SLNA achieved it. Public opinion called the victory of the Nghe An team ugly, but few people knew that the 3 points earned made Huu Thang and his team feel like they had relieved a ton of pressure.

The line between fierceness and violence is sometimes very fragile. Perhaps the coaching staff and players of Nghe An never had the idea of ​​playing destructive football, but when the incident happened, they received a bad reputation. From the incident of Dinh Dong or before that, the story of Van Khanh being eliminated from U.19 Vietnam because of his rough playing style, Nghe An football had to receive all kinds of criticism. That reality raises a familiar question: Does SLNA really dare to make a radical "revolution" towards beauty?

Changing a whole school of football is a long-term thing. It may take 2 years, 3 years or even a decade to find beauty. From Dinh Dong's story and Huu Thang's desire to build European-style football, fans believe that it is time for Nghe An football people to seriously think about the problem and set a roadmap. When a feasible plan is built, waiting a few years or even longer is normal, because if you love SLNA, you will always have plenty of patience.

It is true that in the past, SLNA has achieved a lot of success thanks to a style of play that focuses on strength and determination. However, it would be more convincing if in the future, the Nghe An team dominates with technique and elegance. The land of Nghe An has many football talents, we have masters of artistic style of play, such as Phan Thanh Tuan in the past or Cong Phuong at present, and in fact, if you are passionate, nothing is impossible.

Vinh Liem