SLNA U21 faces a tough challenge in securing a place in the finals.

(Baonghean.vn) – No longer considered one of the championship contenders, securing a ticket to the National U21 Championship Finals has become a difficult task for the Nghe An team.

In the history of the National U21 Championship, SLNA has reached the finals 8 times and holds the record for the most championships in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, and 2014. Unlike lower-level youth tournaments, the playing field for U21 players depends heavily on the quality of players currently playing in the V.League.

On numerous occasions in the past, the SLNA U21 team was unbeatable. Photo: Duc Dong

The period from 2000-2002 was the golden age of Nghe An football, with a team full of top players such as Ho Thanh Thuong, Phan Thanh Hoan (forwards), Nguyen Huy Hoang (center back), Nguyen The Anh (goalkeeper), and Nguyen Thanh Hai (defender)... During those years, SLNA also won the professional national championship twice in a row, officially named V-League.

After a long period, the gap between SLNA's youth academy and other teams narrowed, and SLNA lost its dominant position in this competition. This is despite the fact that the team from Nghe An province continues to produce quality players who later become pillars of the national teams.

Until 2012, a generation of players including Nguyen Manh, Dinh Hoang, Phi Son, Quang Nam, Hoang Thinh, Khac Ngoc... rekindled the glory of SLNA after a long 10-year hiatus, defeating hosts Ninh Thuan 2-0. Although SLNA struggled in the V.League at that time, the consistent quality of the squad helped the young team from Nghe An province flourish.

The last time Nghe An fans enjoyed the feeling of winning a championship in this competition was in 2014. That was the time when players like Phi Son, Phuc Tinh, Ngoc Toan, Ngoc Hai, Manh Hung... were nurtured and honed in the V.League. This was despite the strong rise of other training academies such as Hanoi and Viettel...

The current U21 SLNA team doesn't have many quality stars. Photo: Hoài Hoan

In 2015, the SLNA U21 team, with its core of talented players like Van Khanh, Xuan Manh, Van Duc, Phuc Tinh, and Tuan Tai, had won the National U17 Championship in Hue three years prior. It's worth noting that in the 2015 V.League season, SLNA did not achieve good results, and their performance was insufficient to guarantee progress beyond the group stage.

Most sadly, in 2016, coach Nguyen Van Thinh and his players were eliminated in the qualifying round. Despite having many experienced players who had competed in the V.League for years, this served as a wake-up call regarding the future training of youth football in Nghe An province, a stage approaching professionalism.

Recently, the draw placed U21 SLNA in Group A alongside two formidable opponents, Hanoi FC and Viettel, and FLC Thanh Hoa. The worrying aspect is that among the current U21 SLNA players, only Pham Xuan Manh and Phan Van Duc have regularly played in the 2017 V.League. The rest, such as Viet Nguyen and Phu Nguyen, have only made a few appearances. In recent years, the quality of SLNA's U19 team has not yielded any success, giving fans reason to worry about the current performance of the U21 SLNA team.

We don't dare dream of winning the championship, because the U19 Viettel, U19 Hanoi, and U19 PVF teams have recently shown significantly higher skill levels. However, with a squad lacking many star players, mostly competing in the First Division, securing a place in the finals is already a difficult task for the U21 SLNA team.

Hoai Hoan