North Central derby: Air battle on Thanh Hoa field

Coach Mihail has the best height players in V-League 2018, spread evenly across all lines. That explains why, when FLC Thanh Hoa attacks, the ball often finds the heads of Omar and Karube.

SLNA owns many tall players

On the guest team SLNA, in the regular starting lineup, in addition to goalkeeper Van Hung who is 1.80m tall, Van Khanh, Que Ngoc Hai, Olaha, Osmar are also of similar height. Reserve striker Viet Nguyen is the player with the best height in the team at 1.85m, defender Dinh Hoang or striker Phuc Tinh are also 1.75m tall.

With a height of 1.80m, captain Que Ngoc Hai must try to control the space in front of his team's goal. Photo: AT

Possessing many tall players, aerial combat is not the Nghe An team’s strong point. In recent seasons, SLNA rarely scored goals with their heads, while the opponents often scored goals from high balls.

The two goals conceded at Vinh Stadium were all taken by Than Quang Ninh players from corner kicks. SLNA’s goalkeepers are not strong in controlling the ball in the air despite having the advantage of height and hands.

Possessing many tall players, aerial combat is not the Nghe An team's strong point. Photo: Thanh Cuong

In a match, in addition to actively marking people, goalkeeper Van Hung and SLNA's central defenders must have good coordination in the attacking phases, and the distribution of strength must also be specifically calculated.

Having to constantly jump to defend against high balls in hot weather conditions will quickly wear down the defense consisting of all domestic players. The final minutes of the match will be the time for the home team to take advantage of the 3 foreign players to increase the attacking pressure.

FLC Thanh Hoa with an outstanding squad

In addition to the naturalized center backBakel with a height of 1.92 has become the tallest player in V-League, FLC Thanh Hoa's foreign players all have very impressive heights. Handsome Japanese midfielder Karube is 1.89m tall and captain Omar is 1.87m tall.

In addition to the old players with good height such as Dinh Tien Thanh who is 1.83m tall, striker Van Thang who is 1.73m tall, new players such as central defender Minh Tung who is 1.83m tall, midfielder Minh Tuan who is also 1.74m tall. Clearly this season, FLC Thanh Hoa is the team that owns the most tall players on the Vietnamese football field.

FLC Thanh Hoa is the team with the tallest players in V-League 2018. Photo: Internet

On the contrary, goalkeeper Buu Ngoc, who is likely to start this match with a height of 1.90m and a long arm span, will become the boss in the 16.5m box. If the Nghe An players use long, high crosses, it will not be effective against the home team FLC Thanh Hoa.

Coach Mihail will direct the air pressure on SLNA to force the foreign players Olaha and Osmar to retreat deep to participate in defense. Continuous air combat is also a way to exhaust the physical strength of the two national players Xuan Manh and Que Ngoc Hai, who must spend a lot of physical strength when facing Jordanian players and they also have to spend 16 hours flying over a distance of 7,000 km to Vietnam.

The home team has Trong Hoang, The Duong, Hoang Thinh, players with long-range shooting ability that is not inferior to Mac Hong Quan of Than Quang Ninh. These strikers will intercept the SLNA defense's clearances in the area in front of the 16.5m box to fire cannons.

Khac Ngoc and Ngoc Toan will have to be very careful if they don't want to concede a goal from their former teammates who are now playing for FLC Thanh Hoa.

In our opinion, the key to SLNA's counter-attacking style is Van Duc, despite his physical disadvantage, but his ability to quickly turn around and try to keep the ball at his feet waiting for his teammates to rush forward. Nghe An audiences still wait for Khac Ngoc's passes, right on the momentum of his teammates rushing in like the match at Vinh Stadium against Than Quang Ninh.