U21 SLNA struggles to find a ticket to the final round

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

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

Many times in the past, U21 SLNA had no opponents. Photo: Duc Dong

The period 2000-2002 was the Golden Age of Nghe An football with a team consisting of all 'talented players' such as Ho Thanh Thuong, Phan Thanh Hoan (striker), Nguyen Huy Hoang (center back), Nguyen The Anh (goalkeeper) and Nguyen Thanh Hai (defender)... In those years, SLNA also won the professional national championship twice in a row, officially named V-League.

After a long time, the gap between SLNA training center and other teams was shortened, SLNA lost its unique position in this playground. Even though the Nghe An team still continuously produced quality players who later became pillars of the national teams.

Until 2012, the generation of players Nguyen Manh, Dinh Hoang, Phi Son, Quang Nam, Hoang Thinh, Khac Ngoc... rekindled the glory of SLNA after 10 long years after defeating the home team Ninh Thuan with a score of 2-0. Although at that time, SLNA was struggling in V.League, the uniform quality of the squad helped the young team from Nghe An flourish.

The last time Nghe An fans enjoyed the feeling of winning the championship in this playground was in 2014. The time when players Phi Son, Phuc Tinh, Ngoc Toan, Ngoc Hai, Manh Hung... were trained and honed in the V.League playground. Despite the strong rise of other training centers such as Hanoi, Viettel...

U21 SLNA currently does not have many quality stars. Photo: Hoai Hoan

In 2015, the core of U21 SLNA was talented players such as Van Khanh, Xuan Manh, Van Duc, Phuc Tinh, Tuan Tai who had won the National U17 Championship in Hue 3 years earlier. It is worth mentioning that in V.League 2015, SLNA did not have good results and their performance could not guarantee passing the group stage.

The saddest thing was that in 2016, Coach Nguyen Van Thinh and his students stopped right from the qualifying round. Although at that time, Coach Nguyen Van Thinh had many faces who had fought for many years in V.League. It was like a wake-up call for the future training of Nghe An youth football, the stage approaching professionalism.

Recently, the draw results have put U21 SLNA in the same group A with two formidable opponents, Hanoi, Viettel and FLC Thanh Hoa. The worrying thing is that of the current U21 SLNA players, only Pham Xuan Manh and Phan Van Duc regularly play in V.League 2017. The remaining faces like Viet Nguyen and Phu Nguyen only appear a few times. In recent years, the quality of SLNA's U19 team has not achieved any success, fans have reason to worry about the performance of U21 SLNA at the present time.

Not daring to dream of the championship, because U19 Viettel, U19 Hanoi and U19 PVF have recently become much better. However, with a force that does not have many stars, mainly playing in the First Division, a ticket to the finals is already a difficult task for U21 SLNA.

Hoai Hoan