Song Lam Nghe An avoids 'falling into trap' at Thong Nhat Stadium

In fact, in football there is no such thing as a bridge, meaning that even if they cannot score against Nam Dinh - the team at the bottom of the table, Khanh Hoa, SLNA can still score against Ho Chi Minh City - the team at the top of the table. Thong Nhat Stadium has long been considered the home ground of the Nghe An team, but this time, coach Duc Thang will face many difficulties.

"Hate" Thong Nhat Stadium

Ho Chi Minh City foreign players are rated higher than SLNA. Photo: Club

First of all, this season, the performance of Ho Chi Minh City players at home is quite good. In the past 4 matches, they won 3 and drew 1, only coach Hoang Van Phuc (Quang Nam) got a point when leaving the city named after Uncle Ho. Northern teams such as Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Viettel, teams with similar playing styles to SLNA, all returned empty-handed, "fearing" Thong Nhat Stadium. Coach Chung Hae-seong's home performance is only worse than coach Chu Dinh Nghiem of Hanoi.

On the coaching bench, Coach Lee Heung-sil was an assistant to Coach Guus Hiddink on the Korean national team at the 2002 World Cup. His 16 years of experience with the Korean national team as well as clubs in the K-League is considered more valuable than Coach Duc Thang and many other V.League coaches in terms of on-field coaching.

Brain Balance

In addition to coach Lee Heung-sil, who was the Technical Director of HAGL Club last season and has some understanding of V.League, in the Ho Chi Minh City team, boss Huu Thang used to be the coach of SLNA. Players Que Ngoc Manh, Sam Ngoc Duc, Hoang Thinh, Phi Son, Quang Nam are also familiar with the playing style and strengths of each player from Nghe An. Among them, Sam Ngoc Duc and Quang Nam started while Hoang Thinh came off the bench and scored a long-range goal to bring Ho Chi Minh City 3 points at Than Quang Ninh Stadium.

As people who are knowledgeable about V.League, both Mr. Thang and Coach Lee Heung-sil understand the thirst for goals of Coach Duc Thang and SLNA players. Obviously, with 2 points more than Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City has a certain advantage in maintaining the top position. This week, Coach Chu Dinh Nghiem and his team have to compete at the "fire pit" Thien Truong, Coach Van Sy's students will fight like warriors to escape from the bottom of the table.

Because the match at Thien Truong Stadium is played first, Ho Chi Minh City will have a more suitable plan. If Hanoi gets 3 points, SLNA will have an easier time because the home team will have no choice but to attack to get 3 points. Up to now, only 3/15 goals of Ho Chi Minh City have been scored by holding the ball and organizing attacks from the home field. The SLNA defenders are covering each other very well, not conceding any goals when the opponent plays slowly and passes small.

Landlord trap

Although playing at home, coach Lee Heung-sil will persistently set traps to wait for SLNA players. Photo: VPF

But if Hanoi do not win, it is likely that, despite playing at home, coach Lee Heung-sil will persistently set traps for SLNA players. Central midfielders Van Thuan and Thanh Binh are doing a good job of converting from defense to attack. 6/15 goals were scored by this style of play and foreign players Vinicius and Matis were born to play this style. Coach Lee Heung-sil has publicly stated many times that Ho Chi Minh City will play counter-attacking but his V.League colleagues have not been able to defuse it.

When in a tight spot, coach Lee Heung-sil will send naturalized player Huynh Kesley onto the field to look for free kicks from a breakthrough in possession. The Korean coach's change in playing style during the 90 minutes of play is more evident than SLNA's. Simply put, the reserve players Anh Tuan, Minh Trung, Hoang Thinh, and Ut Cuong are all different from the main players.

The two wings of the home team, Van Thanh and Quang Nam, both tend to play inside for the defenders to attack. If SLNA usually maintains a 4-4-1-1 formation on away matches, when necessary, the home team can switch from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 by pushing Van Thanh, a former Hanoi player, into the third attack. This player born in 1994 can play all 3 positions: defender, midfielder and striker, including Van Thanh of HAGL.

Who will decide the opponent's play is not a difficult question to answer. Because of that, SLNA's coaching staff must have a headache in calculating how to score without falling into the trap at Thong Nhat Stadium.