U13 SLNA: Golden Dream

(Baonghean) - On the afternoon of July 18, at Ha Dong Stadium (Hanoi), the final round of the National U13 Football Championship officially opened. As the defending champion, U13 SLNA is highly appreciated and the goal of coach Le Van Hung and his team is nothing other than winning the championship, thereby winning the only ticket to tour Japan with the sponsorship of Yamaha.

Earlier this year, U19 SLNA lost to the fateful U19 HN.T&T team in the national finals after a penalty shootout. Recently, U17 SLNA could not even get past the qualifying round to make their name in Hue, at the national finals. The consecutive failures in youth tournaments have made SLNA leaders extremely impatient. Therefore, before coach Le Van Hung and his team marched to Hanoi to participate in the national U13 tournament, Song Lam Club had high expectations. A gold cup would be a consolation and could save SLNA from a season without a trophy.

U13 SLNA won the tournament in 2013.

In this tournament last year, under the guidance of coach Tran Quang Dung, U13 SLNA, despite being underestimated, surpassed the country's major youth training centers such as Viettel and PVF to surprisingly win the championship. A year later, as the defending champion, U13 SLNA did not have to play the qualifying round. In this year's final round taking place from July 18 to 26 in Hanoi, U13 SLNA will compete with 15 other opponents, including strong teams such as Viettel 1, Viettel 2, Ho Chi Minh City...

As mentioned, because of the impatience of continuously witnessing the youth teams fail, the preparation process for U13 SLNA to participate in this tournament has received special attention from SLNA leaders. In addition to investing in nutrition and rest regime, SLNA also organized many friendly matches for Coach Le Van Hung's students to practice and gain experience. In addition to the matches with senior U15s at Song Lam "furnace", U13 SLNA also played two friendly matches with U15 Ha Tinh and U15 Ninh Binh. Although they only won 1 match, according to the assessment, the young players from Nghe An have accumulated a lot of experience for the big matches that will take place at Ha Dong Stadium in the coming days.

Coach Le Van Hung said: “The U13 SLNA team participating in this year’s tournament is more balanced. In addition to the remaining faces from last year’s tournament, the team also has many promising young faces. Besides, because they do not have to play in the qualifying round, the preparation process for the tournament is also much more thoughtful. Although highly appreciated, U13 SLNA is not subjective, because everyone knows that youth football always has hidden surprises and anything can happen.”

The tournament just opened this afternoon but on July 12, the whole team moved to Ha Dong. After nearly a week of training camp, coach Le Van Hung and his team tried to get used to the weather, the field and had the necessary friendly matches. In the group stage of this year's tournament, U.13 SLNA is in the same group with: Ho Chi Minh City, Tuyen Quang and Ha Tinh. According to the assessment, it will not be difficult for coach Le Van Hung and his team to be present in the knockout round. However, the goal is to win the championship, so U13 SLNA must have a long-term calculation, in which they focus on matches with direct opponents such as Viettel or Ho Chi Minh City in the decisive matches.

This afternoon (July 18), in the first match of the tournament, U13 SLNA will face U13 Ho Chi Minh City. If they win, Coach Le Van Hung will have time to prepare for the next round.

In addition to the championship and prize money, the champion team of this year's tournament will also be sponsored a free tour to Japan by the sponsor. This is a reward that greatly stimulates the competitive spirit of the players and the goal of U13 SLNA is to defend the championship to seize those rare opportunities.

Vinh Liem