Center back Hoang Van Khanh plays the role of 'Thanh Giong of Nghe An'
(Baonghean.vn) -In the V.League at this time, there are few central defenders born in 1995 who have played in 9/10 matches like Hoang Van Khanh. The player who plays alongside Minh Duc in the center of SLNA's defense is showing clear progress...
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| Hoang Van Khanh (far left) in the U17 SLNA National Championship shirt in 2012. |
Up to round 10 of V.League 2016, SLNA has conceded 16 goals, a number that does not satisfy Nghe An fans. However, the number of goals that SLNA has conceded is still less than FLC Thanh Hoa, Ha Noi T&T as well as HAGL, Long An, Dong Thap at the bottom of the European rankings, which is also a small consolation. And the number of goals conceded cannot truly reflect the actual form and level of the central defenders.
Of the 16 goals conceded by SLNA, most came from extremely silly mistakes. Among them, there were 3 penalties, 3 goals conceded due to goalkeeper Nguyen Manh's lack of concentration at the beginning of the season, 1 free kick, 1 long shot and the rest were major mistakes made by the full-backs.
Winning the 2012 National U17 Finals with coach Ngo Quang Truong, captain Hoang Van Khanh along with Ho Tuan Tai, Pham Xuan Manh... were the prominent faces in the SLNA U17 squad that year. Possessing an ideal height (1m80), having early experience in the 2015 V.League in the SLNA first team and XSKT Can Tho with 14 appearances, more or less, was a great asset for Van Khanh later on.
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| Compared to his senior Manh Hung, Van Khanh plays much better this season. |
While Manh Hung has yet to regain his form, Van Khanh has won the trust of SLNA's coaching staff by playing alongside veteran Nguyen Minh Duc. One follows the ball, the other catches the player, and just like that, both do their jobs quite well.
In fact, Hoang Van Khanh has become much wiser than when he was eliminated from the U19 Vietnam team because he was accused of playing rough. After that fall, Hoang Van Khanh has been playing football with more judgment and situational reading than “five wins, five losses”.
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| With his youth, physical foundation, and good aerial ability, Van Khanh still has many opportunities to prove himself and wear the national team jersey. |
As a young central defender, experience is lacking, however, the player from Tan Ky has a good physical foundation and aerial ability. And what he needs most right now is the ability to distribute his strength throughout the 90 minutes of the match to avoid situations where he runs out of breath against the opponent.
Van Khanh is lucky that he often plays with a veteran player, "virtuous and talented" like Nguyen Minh Duc, and as long as Minh Duc is still at SLNA, Van Khanh will certainly continue to improve in many aspects.
Recently, Coach Nguyen Huu Thang called up the National Team for the second round of 2016 and Hoang Van Khanh was on the tentative list but was not officially named. However, this is not a sad thing, because Van Khanh still has many opportunities to show himself.
With the direction of using SLNA defenders as the mainstay of the national team's defense, as long as Hoang Van Khanh can stand in front of Nguyen Manh's goal, the opportunity to wear the national team jersey is only a matter of time.
Trung Kien
