Song Lam Nghe An: The paradox of a pride

Go out to succeed

In the past, goalkeeper Duong Hong Son left SLNA and became a top successful player of Nghe An football after many years wearing the captain's armband of Hanoi Club. In turn, Le Cong Vinh after leaving SLNA became a legend of Vietnamese football.

These are two players who contributed a lot to the Vietnam national team in winning the AFF Cup 2008. And of course, they are also the richest and most successful players. After that, central defender Nguyen Minh Duc and Cao Xuan Thang were also players who became rich from blockbuster contracts.

Midfielder Trong Hoang left SLNA after winning 2 V.League championships, 1 National Cup and 1 National Super Cup. In the national team, Trong Hoang is still the most popular face.

Other players such as Hoang Thinh, Phi Son, Ngoc Hai all demonstrated their class and level in their new clubs. At their new teams, they not only received salaries, bonuses and signing bonuses of 2-3 billion VND/season but also achieved various titles.

Nguyen Trong Hoang (SLNA) and striker Le Cong Vinh and many other players who left SLNA have become famous and rich. Photo: Trung Kien

In particular, Que Ngoc Hai is still the pride of SLNA as he is the captain of the Vietnam National Team, with the team reaping successes at the AFF Cup 2018, Asian Cup 2019. SLNA players are not only trained in basic skills, have good football skills but most importantly, they have a fiery playing style, full of fighting spirit, and are not afraid of collision.

This is always shown at any time, any stage of Vietnamese football. Even the most neutral and fastidious audience must admit that SLNA is the team with good youth training and is the place that produces the best players for the national team. But when the team's achievements go up, looking at SLNA makes Nghe An fans feel sad.

Performance declines

That pride has become a real concern for Nghe An fans over the years. From a team that has always produced many good players, every year they have to run around to keep the players they trained themselves. Without good players, SLNA's performance has been poor and declining in the V.League.

In 3 years (2011, 2012 and 2013), SLNA's achievements under coach Huu Thang were always in the medal group or at the most modest, in the top 5 at V.League 2014.

Que Ngoc Hai is a typical product of SLNA. Photo: Trung Kien

In the 2015 season, when Le Cong Vinh joined B. Binh Duong in the final part of his career, SLNA relied on a generation of young players in their prime, born in 1992 and 1993 such as Ngo Hoang Thinh, Que Ngoc Hai, Pham Manh Hung, Ho Khac Ngoc, and Tran Dinh Hoang, but still only finished 7th overall.

And what had to happen happened, when Hoang Thinh and Dinh Dong left SLNA to join Thanh Hoa in 2016, the Nghe An team only finished in 9th place. In 2017, coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team only finished in 8th place, won the National Cup at the end of the season and said goodbye to Tran Phi Son.

In the last 5 years, the rare time SLNA entered the top 5, finishing in 4th place overall was the 2018 season with the maturity of the pair Phan Van Duc, Pham Xuan Manh and the quality frame of Nguyen Manh, Khac Ngoc, Dinh Hoang, Ngoc Toan...

In the 2019 season, although there were still quality players, SLNA did not have the desired force and finished 7th overall. One of the reasons for the failure came from continuous injuries, the depth of the force was not guaranteed when it was impossible to bring Hoang Thinh and Trong Hoang back to Vinh stadium.

The responsibility placed on the shoulders of faces like Phan Van Duc in V.League 2020 is huge. Photo: Trung Kien

Now, when SLNA's most famous faces such as Nguyen Manh, Khac Ngoc, Dinh Hoang, Ngoc Toan have joined Viettel and SHB Da Nang, SLNA is sure that the Nghe An team's achievements will be a big question mark when coach Quang Truong returns.

In V.League 2020, SLNA will likely be the team with the youngest average age when the generation born in 1995, 1996 such as Van Khanh, Tuan Tai, Van Duc, Xuan Manh, Van Hoang are the pillars. However, the current generation of SLNA U23 players who want to play well when turning professional also need at least 2-3 years of experience.

The decline in performance and the deserted Vinh stadium made it even more difficult for the team to find new sponsors and lacked a strong financial source. Accordingly, they also could not find suitable foreign players. A vicious cycle that has been going on for decades without an answer, along with a sense of pride mixed with sadness.

Official match schedule of SLNA in the first leg of V.League 2020

(Baonghean.vn) - On January 6, the V.League National Championship Organizing Committee announced the specific match schedule for the first leg of the 2020 season.