Lam River in summer

(Baonghean) - Knowing that "The Lam River will never dry up" - the Nghe An football team never lacks talent. But Nghe An fans no longer want to witness the team's "floating" aimlessly.

Nghe An is entering a period of intense summer heat. To "escape the heat" of the "fire pan of Vinh", the leaders of SLNA Club sent a letter to the V.League Organizing Committee asking to postpone the match to 5:30 am. SLNA's wish was met by the Organizing Committee, the match between SLNA and Hanoi T&T in round 13 was held according to this schedule. It seemed that with the postponement of the match and the cool weather, there would be many spectators coming to the stadium to support the home team, but even when playing against Hanoi T&T - an opponent that always made Vinh Stadium sell out in the past, in this match the stands were very sparse with spectators.

Many people think that the problem here is not the weather, but the "declining" performance and ambition of SLNA, making Nghe An fans no longer interested in their hometown team. Remember, in the previous seasons from the 1990s, when the weather was as hot as fire, the match started at 4 pm but at 12 noon, spectators from the countryside had poured into Vinh Stadium, by 2 pm the "fire pan Vinh" was packed with no empty seats. Now, that atmosphere is a luxury for "fire pan Vinh", the number of spectators coming to Vinh Stadium is getting thinner and thinner. The reason is not because of the summer heat, because of "overeating" EURO, but the problem is that SLNA is still "hanging around like a goldfish". Season after season, the Nghe An team plays without knowing where they will go, because they have no ambition to compete for medals, and relegation is not their turn.

In the 2016 season, Vinh Stadium's stands were sparsely packed with spectators.

With that mentality, SLNA players, once they have a bit of fame, start to have the mindset of "looking back and forth", whenever any team announces that they will find a way to "leave"... If they have to stay at Vinh Stadium, they will still play in a moderate way. The proof is that this season, SLNA has a series of players such as Phi Son, Nguyen Manh, Dinh Hoang, Ngoc Hai... but they are no longer a "formidable force" in V.League. After 13 rounds, the Nghe An team is drifting towards the bottom of the rankings and has had lackluster matches, recently SLNA lost for the first time to Hanoi T&T right at Vinh.

Knowing that “The Lam River will never dry up” - the Nghe An football team never lacks talent. But Nghe An fans no longer want to see the team drifting aimlessly. In order for the Nghe An audience and fans to not lose faith, in the remaining matches of this season, SLNA cannot give up but must pull themselves together, play their best, so that the waves of people continue to surge into the Vinh stadium stands.

Duc Dung