Central defender who grew up from Nghe An Newspaper Cup Ho Khac Luong - 'bright spot' of Vietnam U18 defense

Dear Bao• August 15, 2019 14:27

(Baonghean.vn) - Although U18 Vietnam is showing a disappointing performance at the U18 Southeast Asian tournament and is at risk of being eliminated early in the group stage, on an individual level, central defender Ho Khac Luong, who grew up in the Nghe An Newspaper Cup, is an impressive player in the home team's defense.

U18 Vietnam at risk of being eliminated?

Vietnam U18 just had a disappointing draw against Thailand U18. This draw puts Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan's team at risk of being eliminated because now, our gap with Malaysia U18 and Australia U18 is 2 points and there is only 1 final match left in the group stage.

If they want to continue, U18 Vietnam must beat U18 Cambodia in the final round and hope that U18 Malaysia stumbles against U18 Thailand or U18 Australia has a bad result against Singapore. The second possibility is almost impossible because the level of the team from the "Kangaroo Land" is different from that of Singapore.

Overall, if U18 Vietnam cannot continue to the semi-finals of the U18 Southeast Asian tournament, it will not surprise many people who have followed their journey in this year's tournament. U18 Vietnam only beat Malaysia thanks to a very lucky goal in the last minute of the match by Minh Trong. After that, U18 Vietnam lost to strong opponent Australia with a score of 1-3 before having an important 3-0 victory over Singapore. And recently, U18 Vietnam only had a bland 0-0 draw with rival Thailand.

U18 Việt Nam đứng trước nguy cơ bị loại bởi hàng công chơi yếu kém (anh 1- Zing)

U18 Vietnam is at risk of being eliminated due to weak attack. Photo: Zing.vn

The U18 Vietnam attack had a disappointing performance when they only scored 5 goals in 4 matches. The number of goals scored by U18 Vietnam was equal to that of Cambodia and only 2 more than Singapore. U18 Malaysia scored 9 goals, and of course Australia ranked above with 12 goals scored.

While the offense played unconvincingly, the defense played quite impressively, only conceding 4 goals, ranking 2nd among the teams that conceded the least goals, above them was Malaysia, who had to pick the ball out of the net twice.

Ho Khac Luong's bright spot

The bright spot in the defense of U18 Vietnam is SLNA center back Ho Khac Luong. It is known that Ho Khac Luong is from Quynh Luu, born in 2001, and grew up from the Nghe An Newspaper Cup.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Ho Khac Luong is the most important player for Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan at the present time. With a fierce playing style, not afraid of collision, Ho Khac Luong has commanded the Vietnamese defense to play tightly against opponents such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Especially in the match against U18 Thailand, the Nghe An player made many efforts to block the ball when the Thai striker rushed forward to finish towards the goal of goalkeeper Y Eli Nie.

Hàng cồn chơi dưới sức còn hàng thủ của U18 Việt Nam đang chơi khá tốt, người chơi nổi bật nhất chính là trung vệ Hồ Khắc Lương (Anh 2- Zing)

The U18 Vietnam defense is playing quite well, the most outstanding player is center back Ho Khac Luong. Photo: Zing.vn

Up to now, Khac Luong is a rare player of U18 Vietnam who has played the full 90 minutes in all 4 recent matches. That shows the importance of the player from Quynh Luu to Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan.

Along with Y Eli Nie, Khac Luong is having a good tournament, showing his Nghe An talent, which is a fierce, fiery style of play, not afraid of collisions and extremely alert in judging situations.

This may be a tournament to forget for U18 Vietnam in general and Ho Khac Luong in particular. However, on a personal level, Khac Luong has scored points and this is a good sign for SLNA when a series of first team players will have their contracts expire after the 2019 season ends.