U15 Song Lam Nghe An aims to defend the throne

Turn pressure into motivation

At the 2022 National U15 Tournament, U15Lam River Nghe Anpossessing personnel with quite high professional quality. These include goalkeeper Bao Ngoc, midfielder Long Vu, Van Tung, striker Quoc Hoa... That has contributed to helping U15 Song Lam Nghe An "make waves" at the 2022 National U15 Tournament. Coach Dinh Van Dung and his team went through the National U15 finals with an all-win record. Especially in the final match, the Nghe team won convincingly against the highly rated opponent PVF. Overcoming this rich team, U15 Song Lam Nghe An officially won the 2022 National U15 Championship. That achievement helped the Nghe team equal PVF's record of 4 Gold Cup wins in the history of the tournament.

Entering this year's season, U15 Song Lam Nghe An is led by coach Ngo Quang Truong and is determined to defend the championship. However, it is not easy for the defending champion because coach Ngo Quang Truong does not have many truly excellent players. In particular, this year's U15 Song Lam Nghe An team is at a disadvantage compared to the previous U15 team, as they do not have many opportunities to compete in official national tournaments.

Specifically, in 2021, before the National U13 tournament, some players of U13 Song Lam Nghe An were infected with Covid-19. Therefore, this team was not able to participate in the tournament that year. This is the reason why the current generation of U15 Song Lam Nghe An players do not have the same high combat ability as the previous generation of U15.

To overcome these limitations, for more than a month now, coach Ngo Quang Truong and his team have planned a very thorough training schedule. The U15 Song Lam Nghe An coaching staff has developed many lesson plans, closely following the actual situation of the team, in order to perfect the skills and tactics for the students at the highest level. In addition, coach Quang Truong also set out many hypothetical situations in defending against high balls, how to impose pressing on the opponent. Thereby helping the Song Lam Nghe An players not to be surprised when entering the competition. In addition, to improve the players' battle experience, the U15 Song Lam Nghe An coaching staff has also coordinated and organized many internal friendly matches, with teams such as U14, U16, U17 Song Lam Nghe An. Notably, before leaving for the 2023 National U15 qualifying round, coach Ngo Quang Truong's team had a very useful test when having a friendly match with U15 Thanh Hoa.

This has helped U15 Song Lam Nghe An improve many limitations, ready to move towards a successful season waiting ahead.

Midfielder Le Tan Dung - U15 Song Lam Nghe An said: "Towards the 2023 National U15 Championship, the coaching staff has carefully prepared every detail for the players. We aim to pass the qualifying round to reach the final round."

To overcome the pressure of holding the title of defending champion, Coach Ngo Quang Truong affirmed: “When Song Lam Nghe An's youth teams participate in national tournaments, fans always have high expectations. In 2022, U15 Song Lam Nghe An just won the National U15 Championship, which is pressure for the current U15 Song Lam Nghe An generation. However, we will turn that pressure into motivation, determined to compete well in this year's season. In the immediate future, we will strive to pass the qualifying round and then continue to calculate for the next steps."

Identify the opponents of U15 Song Lam Nghe An in the qualifying round

In preparation for the qualifying round, the coaching staff of U15 Song Lam Nghe An has decided to select 25 players to participate in the qualifying round of the 2023 National U15 Tournament, including 21 players born in 2008 and 4 players from U14 Song Lam Nghe An.

This year's National U15 Championship qualifiers have the participation of 28 teams divided into 5 groups. U15 Song Lam Nghe An is in group B with U15 Bac Ninh, U15 Ha Tinh, U15 Hue, U15 Cong An Ha Noi, U15 PVF. The 2023 National U15 Championship qualifiers will take place from July 11 to August 3. The teams will compete in a round-robin of 2 home and away matches. After the end of the qualifiers, the 2 teams ranked first and second in each group and the 3rd-placed team with the best results will qualify for the final round of the 2023 National U15 Championship.

Looking at the teams in Group B, it can be affirmed that U15 Song Lam Nghe An and U15 PVF are the two teams that are considered the strongest. Because these are two teams with a systematic youth football training system, and have achieved many high achievements in youth tournaments organized by the Vietnam Football Federation. The clearest proof is that both U15 Song Lam Nghe An and U15 PVF teams are holding the record for the number of times they have won the National U15 Championship. However, in football, there is always an element of surprise. Teams such as U15 Ha Tinh, U15 Hue or U15 Cong An Ha Noi are all ready for an overthrow. It is necessary to emphasize the quite systematic investment in youth football training of Ha Tinh and Hue. In recent years, the U teams of these two teams have always brought discomfort to teams that are considered higher.

In addition, Hanoi Police U15 is also predicted to be an unknown and can cause surprises in this group. Because the Hanoi Police U15 team participating in this tournament includes many players who were trained at the PVF Youth Football Academy. Therefore, the strength of the team from the capital cannot be underestimated.

According to the Regulations of the 2023 National U15 Football Championship, each group will only select the 2 teams ranked first, second and 1 team ranked third with the best results. Therefore, although being rated higher, U15 Song Lam Nghe An cannot be subjective and must carefully calculate the use of personnel, as well as apply reasonable tactics for each opponent, in each specific match. Because the number of matches in the qualifying round of the National U15 Championship this year is very large (Each team will have to play 10 matches in the group stage).

Hopefully, with careful preparation, U15 Song Lam Nghe An will soon pass the group stage, thereby aiming to defend the throne at the 2023 National U15 Tournament./.