U21 SLNA failed on the opening day of the 2021 National U21

This is the opening match of U21 SLNA at the 2021 National U21 Finals. This group includes U21 SLNA, U21 Nutifood, U21 Hanoi and U21 Nam Dinh.

Unlike the match in the qualifying round, U21 SLNA had an extremely impressive start when meeting U21 Nutifood again. Coach Ngo Quang Truong's students took the initiative right from the opening whistle. The yellow team with superior ball control ability, created many opportunities towards U21 Nutifood's goal.

Thanks to the guaranteed formation distance, along with the flexible running ability of the players, Coach Quang Truong's team found many empty spots to exploit the opponent's defensive gaps. If luck had smiled on the yellow team, after more than 30 minutes of play, they could have scored more than 2 goals. However, the shots of Nguyen Van Viet and Tran Manh Quynh all found the feet of Nutifoods defenders and flew out.

The U21 SLNA strikers played quite impressively, scoring 3 goals, but in the end, the Nghe An team still could not get any points against U21 Nutifood. Photo: PV

SLNA's coordination from the center, then opening up the two wings to cross, has repeatedly put the goal of the red shirt players in an alarming position. Nutifood actively played a large defense, which somewhat caused difficulties for the yellow shirt team. Overall, in the entire first half, U21 SLNA showed their overwhelming strength against their opponents. However, Coach Quang Truong's students still could not score the opening goal in the first half.

Entering the second half, U21 SLNA was still the team that took the initiative, however, the many attacks without scoring goals made the yellow shirt team pay the price. In the 51st minute, Nutifood's Quoc Viet opened the score for the match. That was a skillful lob beyond the reach of goalkeeper Nguyen Van Ba, sending the ball into the SLNA goal to the amazement of the fans.

Despite conceding the first goal, SLNA did not lose their direction and still followed the tactics of the coaching staff. With familiar attacking moves on both wings, the yellow team created many dangerous opportunities. And what the Nghe An audience was waiting for came when Tran Manh Quynh scored the equalizer in the 65th minute of the match. The goal came from Tran Quoc Thanh's downfield, this player crossed for Manh Quynh to easily tap the ball past the U21 Nutifood goalkeeper.

But the joy did not last long for SLNA, just 1 minute later, U21 Nutifood took the lead again with a score of 2-1. The goal once again showed the lack of coordination and protection of SLNA's defenders. Nutifood's through balls were not surprising, but the central defenders of the Nghe An team still appeared passive, leading to the opponent's strikers having the opportunity to face Van Ba.

Tran Manh Quynh scored the equalizer 1-1 for U21 SLNA. Photo: PV

Not stopping there, Nutifood continued to raise the score to 3-1 in the 72nd minute of the match. But less than 2 minutes later, Van Luong brought hope to the yellow team when he scored to reduce the score to 2-3. It was truly a dramatic match when in the 82nd minute of the match, U21 SLNA continued to score a goal to equalize 3-3. The goal was scored by midfielder Tran Quoc Thanh.

In the final minutes of the match, the Nghe An team did not want to share points with Nutifood, they pressed the opponent to find 3 points on the opening day. However, SLNA's defense showed weakness when Nutifood took the lead with a score of 4-3, with a fairly easy header in the penalty area.

With this loss, the Nghe An team put themselves in a difficult position, as in the next two matches they have to face two very strong teams in the group, Nam Dinh and Hanoi.