Song Lam Nghe An suffered their second consecutive defeat at Hang Day Stadium.

Van Duc could not show much in this match. Photo: Chung Le

Today’s match sees the return of Olaha - a player who had to miss 2 matches due to suspension. The presence of number 10 is extremely necessary for the Nghe An team’s attack.

Hoang Van Khanh was also in the starting lineup after a period of injury. Besides, Que Ngoc Hai had an interesting confrontation when meeting his old teammates at Viettel.

On the other side of the front line, the Army Team will not have the service of central defender Bui Tien Dung due to injury. Players Hoang Duc, Khac Ngoc, Nham Manh Dung… are all fit to be in the starting lineup.

Having to play away from home against the defending champions, Song Lam Nghe An entered the match with confidence. In the second minute of the match, from a counterattack straight into the middle, Van Duc broke through into the opponent's penalty area. However, his final kick hit the leg of center back Thanh Binh and flew out.

After regaining adhesion in all three lines,Lam River Nghe Ancontrolled the ball better. Coach Huy Hoang's students applied many diverse attacking plans, surprising Viettel's defense. If Olaha had been more focused, the goal would have been opened for Song Lam Nghe An in the 10th minute of the match. The situation started from the middle, the ball was passed long to Tran Dinh Hoang, the defender wearing the number 66 shirt handled it neatly, before sending the ball across Nguyen Manh's goal. However, Olaha was startled for a moment and missed the ball, unable to open the score for Song Lam Nghe An.

Song Lam Nghe An's attack faced difficulties when the home team used a large number of players in front of Nguyen Manh's goal. Photo: Chung Le

Viettel uses a defensive counter-attacking style of play and that tactic is completely reasonable when owning striker Geovane. This is a rather cunning foreign player with very good speed. Viettel's style of play has been effective, when in the 25th minute of the match, the striker wearing the number 94 shirt opened the score for Viettel with a powerful penalty kick. Before that, from the home team's counter-attack, Geovane received the ball from a long pass over the line from his teammate, the good stretching of number 94 caused Van Hoang to commit a foul.

After conceding the goal, Song Lam Nghe An tried to control the game to find an equalizer. But when creating opportunities in the opponent's penalty area, Van Duc or Mario shot the ball wide of Nguyen Manh's goal. In the first 45 minutes, Song Lam Nghe An attacked quite coherently, but the strikers wasted too many opportunities, making it impossible for Nghe An Club to bring the match back to the starting line.

Entering the second half, Viettel took the initiative to play low, pushing most of the players back to defense. They waited for Song Lam Nghe An to make a mistake to attack. When they had the ball, Viettel used long passes to take advantage of Geovane's running and acceleration ability to endanger Van Hoang's goal. This way of playing brought the opportunity to double the gap for the Army Team in the 50th minute of the match. The home team's opportunity was applied according to that scenario. After receiving the ball from his teammate in the back line, Geovane used his speed to get past Que Ngoc Hai. However, with just enough impact from the captain of Song Lam Nghe An, striker number 94 could not raise the score to 2-0.

Song Lam Nghe An's defense had difficulty when facing Geovane. Photo: Chung Le

Despite controlling the ball quite a bit, the Nghe An players still lacked decisive passes. Realizing this, coach Huy Hoang replaced Mario with Dinh Xuan Tien, in order to take advantage of the creativity and tactical vision of this young midfielder.

Entering the field, Xuan Tien immediately left an impression. With the mindset of an organizing midfielder, he made a reasonable pass to the wing for Tran Dinh Hoang to flip the ball to Van Duc in the 5m50 area. The midfielder wearing the number 20 shirt's close-range header went wide of the goal when Nguyen Manh was helpless to see the ball.

After attacking relentlessly without being able to score, Song Lam Nghe An received a counterattack in the extra minutes of the match. Viettel's goal to double the gap was scored by Hoang Duc.

Despite losing the match, Song Lam Nghe An still maintained their 2nd place in the rankings after the first leg. Before that, Hoang Anh Gia Lai had suffered a defeat against Hai Phong right at home.

On August 26, the Nghe An team will return to Vinh Stadium to welcome Hanoi in round 14 of V.League 2022.