Finding the Nghe quality of the 'new king' Hong Linh Ha Tinh
(Baonghean.vn) - With the motto of "taking shortcuts", Ha Tinh has stepped into the V.League after only 1 year of taking over the Hanoi B team, which failed in the play-off match last season with Nam Dinh when losing by 11m penalty kick. But like many other V.League rookies, coach Pham Minh Duc is facing the problem of preparing the team's force and identity.
Ha Tinh has a very unique football strategy, instead of training young people to gradually progress through each league, they established Ha Tinh Football Joint Stock Company, negotiated with T&T Sports Joint Stock Company to transfer Hanoi B. Everything was done so quickly that they had a football team in hand but no stadium, something that only Vietnamese football can do.
Like a dream
Coach Pham Minh Duc has 30 players, 16 of whom are transferable, the remaining 10 are talents from the Hanoi youth academy (under T&T) on loan for a limited period. In addition, there are 4 players transferred by Ha Tinh football from professional and first-class teams.
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| Next season, Hong Linh Ha Tinh will have to "renew" nearly half of the team. Photo: HTFC. |
But the story of the V.League playground has never been easy for the rookies. As coach Pham Minh Duc (Hong Linh Ha Tinh): "Going to V.League is fun, but also a lot of worries". Simply, there is a big gap in the level of expertise between the First Division and V.League, and the V.League playground is much more harsh. More than anyone, the Hong Linh Ha Tinh players see Viettel, the domestic players have players Ngoc Hai, Trong Hoang, Tien Dung, Viet Phong and the U22 teams like Hoang Duc, Trong Dai but still struggling.
Among the Hong Linh Ha Tinh players, only striker Tuan Hai and defender Viet Anh have been called up to the U22 Vietnam team, which is considered to be close to the V.League. Simply put, when playing at the highest level of Vietnamese football, with 4 foreign players, naturalized players and experienced opponents, many young players are nervous.
Facing reality
Coach Pham Minh Duc has already calculated the source of foreign and domestic players, because Hong Linh Ha Tinh will have to "renew" nearly half of the team. The criteria of this coach when recruiting domestic players is to prioritize faces from 25 to 27 years old, not necessarily stars, but must have class and aspiration and take into account regional identity.
Although stationed in Ha Tinh, the team currently has only 2 players of Nghe origin, but they mainly play as reserve players. That is central midfielder Tran Duc Trung, born in 1991 in the mountainous district of Quy Hop, Nghe An. At the age of 14, Duc Trung decided to "go down the mountain" to join the VST training center, now VSH T&T of former famous player Van Sy Hung. Thanks to his training efforts, Trung was transferred from the VST Center to the Hanoi T&T youth team.
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| Right back Phan Ba Hoang at the coming of age ceremony at VPF. Photo: FBNV |
The remaining player is right-back Phan Ba Hoang, born and raised in Ich Hau commune, Loc Ha district. In 2009, when he was just 10 years old, he was called to join the Loc Ha children's football team, competing in the Phu Dong Sports Festival Football Tournament of Ha Tinh province and won the title of best player of the tournament.
After that, this young defender went to Ho Chi Minh City to join PVF academy. At the U19 Finals in 2017, Ba Hoang, wearing the number 2 jersey, had a memorable tournament when he was included in the typical squad. After that, Ba Hoang was included by coach Vu Hong Viet in the list of the Vietnam U19 team to participate in the U19 International tournament held in Khanh Hoa and won the championship. This defender was also called up to the Vietnam U18 team to prepare for the U18 Southeast Asia tournament 2017 held in Myanmar.
How to stay in V.League and how to play to get the support of Ha Tinh audiences has been and is not a simple problem for the First Division champion next season.
