U17, U21 Song Lam Nghe An empty-handed, why?

Glorious past

In the past, U17 Song Lam Nghe An has made waves at the National U17 Tournament. Through 18 times this tournament has been held, U17 Song Lam Nghe An has won the championship 8 times. Currently, the Nghe An team holds the record for the number of championships in this tournament.

The last time U17 Song Lam Nghe An won the championship was in the 2020 season. Also from this tournament, a series of talented players of U17 Song Lam Nghe An were discovered. These include Phan Xuan Dai, Nguyen Van Bach, Ho Van Cuong,...

After that success, the achievements of U17 Song Lam Nghe An tended to decline in the following years when they only won the Bronze Medal. Even in the 2024 season, U17 Song Lam Nghe An did not have the right to decide for themselves the goal of passing the group stage. This team had to rely on the results of other matches in the final round to win a ticket to the Quarterfinals.

In the knockout match, it was thought that U17 Song Lam Nghe An would have an advantage when they scored the opening goal of the match. However, after having to play with one less player for most of the remaining time, coach Phan Tien Hoai's students had to accept defeat against U17 Hanoi. That achievement made many Nghe An fans worried about the risk of decline of this U17 generation.

At the same time as the National U17 Finals, U21 Song Lam Nghe An also entered the qualifying round of the National U21 Tournament. In this tournament in the past, U21 Song Lam Nghe An was always a strong candidate for the championship. Through 26 times the National U21 Tournament was held, U21 Song Lam Nghe An owned 5 Gold Cups (ranked only after Hanoi).

Entering the qualifying round this year, U21 Song Lam Nghe An has the appearance of a giant. Although U21 Song Lam Nghe An is in the same group with the reigning champion U21 PVF and U21 Thanh Hoa, with their tradition, no one thought that U21 Song Lam Nghe An would have to stop at the qualifying round. However, the unthinkable happened, the Nghe team had to leave the game early.

Reasons for going broke

With the poor results of U17 and U21 Song Lam Nghe An, many audiences have asked the question, why are these two teams left empty-handed this season?

First of all, in the U17 Song Lam Nghe An team, it can be clearly seen that this team has a force that is not really equal in terms of skill level. More than half of the personnel in the U17 Song Lam Nghe An team were born in 2009. The age difference causes the U17 Nghe An team to face many limitations such as: professional level, football thinking, strength, experience... This has affected the harmony in the process of assembling the two groups of players together. That reason has made the U17 Song Lam Nghe An team weaker this season than before.

In addition, coach Phan Tien Hoai's squad does not have any outstanding players capable of being leaders. Therefore, U17 Song Lam Nghe An did not play convincingly. Besides, it must be said that luck turned its back on U17 Song Lam Nghe An. Especially, in the Quarterfinal match, if U17 Song Lam Nghe An did not lose a player, U17 Hanoi would have had difficulty reversing the situation.

However, all of those explanations are subjective. Hopefully, after this year's tournament, the U17 Nghe An players will learn lessons to become more mature in the future.

As for U21 Song Lam Nghe An, this will certainly be a season to forget. The main reason is the problem of force.

From the policy of the leadership of Song Lam Nghe An Club is to always create conditions for players to participate in the National teams, therefore, young talents such as: Quang Vinh, Long Vu, Phung Van Nam, Nguyen Van Binh, Bao Ngoc... all focus on the Vietnam U19 team and cannot serve U21 Song Lam Nghe An.

Besides, the U21 Nghe An team has many players from the first team. These players have to compete in the V.League until the end of the tournament. Therefore, the time for U21 Song Lam Nghe An to practice is very little.

It was not until close to the match day that U21 Song Lam Nghe An had enough players to play. These were the difficulties that caused U21 Song Lam Nghe An to not play as cohesively and coherently as desired.

And what was even more unfortunate for the Nghe An team was that they had to meet the defending champion in the first round. With a patchwork squad, U21 Song Lam Nghe An had to accept a heavy defeat against U21 PVF. With this defeat, U21 Song Lam Nghe An faced difficulties in the race for a ticket to the final round. In the following rounds, although U21 Song Lam Nghe An overcame U21 Hue, U21 Quang Ngai and drew with U21 Thanh Hoa, they were not able to qualify for the final round.

It can be said that U21 Song Lam Nghe An has been disappointing this season. However, if we look further, Nghe An fans will be somewhat comforted when more and more Song Lam Nghe An players are named in the National youth teams. This is a bright signal for Nghe An football in the future./.