Song Lam Nghe An won away at Pleiku

The joy of Song Lam Nghe An players after winning against Hoang Anh Gia Lai. Photo: Chung Le

Before this round, both home and away teams had gone through 6 matches without knowing the taste of victory. Many criticisms are focusing on the 2 teams Hoang Anh Gia Lai andLam River Nghe An. Perhaps 3 points at this time is the best medicine to cool down public opinion and help players on both sides regain the confidence they had at the beginning of the season. In addition, this confrontation is also a position dispute, when the two teams are ranked 6th and 7th on the V.League 2022 rankings.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai entered round 19 with full strength when 3 key players Dinh Duy, Van Thanh, Nguyen Tuan Anh returned. On the other side, coach Huy Hoang's team also had the return of captain Que Ngoc Hai after 2 matches due to suspension. Besides, Mario and Oseni were also in good shape, but the coaching staff of Song Lam Nghe An decided to let Van Lam and Dinh Tien enter the field from the start. Thus, the Nghe An team only played with one foreign player Olaha when fighting Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

A brilliant day of competition for midfielder Tran Dinh Tien. Photo: Chung Le

With the advantage of playing at home, coach Kiatisuk's students proactively launched attacks as soon as the ball rolled. The first dangerous situation that the mountain town team created came in the 2nd minute. After Van Thanh's cross, Bruno jumped high to head the ball, but goalkeeper Van Hoang controlled the goal.

In the first minutes of the match, the Mountain City Team mainly focused on attacking on the right wing where Van Thanh participated. The defender's crosses were mainly aimed at the foreign player with the advantage of physique - Bruno. However, with the direction of captain Que Ngoc Hai, the Nghe An Club's defense was quite proactive in neutralizing the ball.

On the other side of the front line, the away team Song Lam Nghe An also did not hide their ambition to get 3 points even though they had to play at Pleiku Stadium. Coach Huy Hoang's students were not afraid of their opponents, but deployed quite diverse attacking moves. With one-touch passes at short range, Tuan Anh and his teammates were quite confused when defending. If they were luckier, Dinh Tien or Olaha could have opened the score for the away team.

Olaha opened the score for Song Lam Nghe An in the 22nd minute of the match. Photo: Chung Le

But coach Huy Hoang's students did not have to be too regretful, because in the 22nd minute of the match, Olaha helped Song Lam Nghe An take the lead. Midfielder Tran Dinh Tien had a skillful dribble on the right wing, before making a flexible cross for Olaha to tap the ball into the opponent's net.

After the goal, Song Lam Nghe An still had no intention of defending. Coach Huy Hoang instructed his players to continue maintaining the same attacking speed as before. The mobility of Olaha and Van Duc in the attack line opened up quite effective approaches to Huynh Tuan Linh's goal.

Interspersed between the powerful attacks of Song Lam Nghe An were the rather monotonous attacks of Cong Phuong and his teammates. Coach Kiatisuk did not instruct his players to approach Van Hoang's goal much.

In the second half, Hoang Anh Gia Lai actively pushed up the formation to find an equalizer. The two wings continued to be chosen by the mountain town team as an attacking option. And the first chance that the Pleiku home team created in this half came in the 50th minute. Van Thanh, after receiving a cross from his teammate on the left wing, launched a dangerous header, but Van Hoang played focused and pushed the ball away for a corner kick.

Van Duc's mobility brings many sharp attacks to Song Lam Nghe An. Photo: Chung Le

But by the 60th minute, Van Hoang had no chance to block Minh Vuong's thunderous shot. The ball was flipped from the left wing, Cong Phuong rushed in to head it, but the defender of Song Lam Nghe An cleared it, reaching Minh Vuong's feet, the substitute player quickly volleyed the ball, hitting Van Hoang's net, equalizing the score for Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

Realizing that he was at a disadvantage against the home team, coach Huy Hoang decided to change 3 players. Dinh Tien, Van Khanh, Van Lam were given a rest and Oseni, Dinh Chau, The Nhat came in to replace them. And Oseni continued to play the role of "youngster" of Song Lam Nghe An when he directly caused trouble, allowing Brandao to awkwardly score an own goal in the final seconds of the match, bringing the final victory to Nghe An Club.

Round 20, Song Lam Nghe An will return to Vinh Stadium to welcome the bottom team Saigon.