Song Lam Nghe An and the foreign player problem for the new season
Foreign players will play an important role in guiding the very young domestic players of Song Lam Nghe An in the upcoming 2024/2025 season.
Looking back at the 2023-2024 season
The 2023-2024 season is one of the most difficult seasons for Song Lam Nghe An. The proof is that the Nghe team had to wait until the last round to successfully stay in the league. This comes from the immaturity of the domestic force and the lack of excellence of the foreign players.
Of course, that was an exception for Michael Olaha. The Nigerian striker had the best season of his professional career when he scored 13 goals and provided 4 assists in 26 matches in the V.League, contributing greatly to helping Song Lam Nghe An stay in the league last season.
Playing at an average level is center back Mario Zebic. In the context of Song Lam Nghe An's defense facing many injuries, the Croatian center back has done a good job in defense to help the Nghe team not concede more goals. However, in fixed situations, this center back's height is not at its best, reducing the danger in situations of joining the attack. Therefore, the Mario Zebic contract is only considered an acceptable contract for Song Lam Nghe An last season.
The most disappointing is striker Raphael Success. This foreign player is the result of an exchange between Song Lam Nghe An and Hanoi Police (young defender Ho Van Cuong came to wear the Police team's shirt). However, after 12 matches for the Nghe An team, the Nigerian striker's contributions are a big zero.
Raphael Success's weakness was one of the reasons that pushed Song Lam Nghe An into danger last season. And this will be a valuable lesson for the Nghe An team in preparing for the upcoming 2024-2025 season.
Looking forward to the 2024-2025 season
There are less than 2 months left for the 2024-2025 season to begin, this is a very short period of time for Song Lam Nghe An to perfect its personnel as well as techniques and tactics.
Fortunately, the Nghe An team has successfully convinced Michael Olaha to continue playing for the new season. This will help the attack of Song Lam Nghe An not have too many disturbances when Phan Van Dai, Tran Manh Quynh or Le Dinh Long Vu are still the strategic cards of coach Pham Anh Tuan. The harmony between these young players and Olaha will help Nghe An fans to ease their worries as the season is approaching.
However, the remaining 2 foreign player slots are still a mystery for the Vinh team. It is very likely that these 2 slots will be evenly distributed in both the defender and midfielder lines.
First, it is a central defender with good physique and strength to help support players like Tran Nam Hai, Le Nguyen Hoang or Ho Khac Luong. Besides, this central defender will also be an attacking option for the Nghe team in fixed situations.
In recent years, Song Lam Nghe An has often had a good relationship with Brazilian or Eastern European central defenders. These are Mario Zebic (Croatia), Vytas Gaspuitis (Lithuania), Igor Jelic, Damir Memović (Serbia) or Gustavo Sant'Ana (Brazil). These central defenders often have good aerial ability and read situations very well. Therefore, it will not be surprising if the Nghe An team will continue to have a central defender from the above football backgrounds.
The remaining foreign player slot will probably be a midfielder. Because the departure of Dang Van Lam, Nguyen Van Viet, the "disappearance" of Dinh Xuan Tien or the injuries of the pillars have caused Nguyen Quang Vinh or Phan Ba Quyen to fall into a state of overload.
Therefore, if there is a strong and technical central midfielder, Nguyen Quang Vinh and his teammates will benefit a lot in the next season. And that will bring more balance in the playing style of coach Pham Anh Tuan's team.
However, with limited financial capacity, it will be difficult for Song Lam Nghe An to find suitable foreign players. However, the lesson from the Raphael Success deal is still very new and the coaching staff of the Nghe An team needs to make careful choices to avoid falling into the same rut as last season.
Hopefully, Song Lam Nghe An will soon stabilize the squad to have the best preparations for the 2024-2025 season.
