V-League 2018: When the "king" is sleeping

The Tam Ky team almost kept the same squad as in previous seasons. The Central team also promoted contract negotiations with many football stars but all were unsuccessful. As the 2017 V-League champion, with more money thanks to a new sponsor, Quang Nam has never been an attractive destination for domestic and foreign players.

Human resource difficulties

This season, coach Hoang Van Phuc will find it difficult to make a breakthrough because "no flour, no paste". Photo: TA

While the main striker Claudecir was "making a fuss" to leave without success, in the afternoon, Mr. Hoang Van Phuc brought in 6 new players, but names like Minh Hoang, Van Ha, Quang Huy, Duc Thang, Mila or Wander Luiz are not famous players.

The Tam Ky home team also encountered difficulties when midfielder Huy Hung was injured and had to miss the first 3 matches of V.League 2018. Meanwhile, last year's mainstays in defense such as Thiago Melo or goalkeeper Pham Van Cuong occasionally made mistakes leading to unfortunate goals.

Quang Nam's midfield did not play too badly, Dinh Thanh Trung still played the leading role and had a pretty good match at SHB.Da Nang. Phan Thanh Hung also scored a goal, but the striker, naturalized player Nguyen Trung Dai Duong, only played the role of disrupting the opponent's play rather than scoring. At Cam Pha, Huy Hung's return made the Quang Nam midfield hold the ball more but faced Quang Ninh with former SHB.Da Nang captain Nguyen Sa, a player of Quang origin who understood the Tam Ky home team very well, so they did not give them many opportunities.

Difficulty binds wisdom

At the beginning of the season, Quang Nam's Board of Directors was determined to "treat" the unruly son Claudecir by "confining" him for 2 rounds, but when needed, the Brazilian striker still could not play because his physical condition was not guaranteed. It is true that "man proposes, God disposes"!

Claudecir is still not fit enough to compete. Photo: Internet

With personnel difficulties after the first 4 matches of V.League 2018, Quang Nam only got 4 points. At home, coach Hoang Van Phuc's team won against FLC Thanh Hoa, was held to a draw by Saigon and lost away to Than Quang Ninh and SHB Da Nang. As CEO Nguyen Hup worried: "Winning the championship is difficult, how to maintain success this season is even more difficult" because after only 4 matches, they were 6 points behind.

Following this Central team, we see that Quang Nam and SLNA often have a bad start in V. League. In the last 3 seasons, after the first 4 rounds, they only had 3, 4 and 8 points. In the 2017 season, Coach Hoang Van Phuc's team was undefeated in the first 4 matches with 8 points and then won the championship.

Things will be even more difficult, because when Quang Nam plays as the defending champion, it will be very different from last year's "hiding from the wind" style. It seems that coach Hoang Van Phuc will find it difficult to make a breakthrough because "no flour, no glue" because of poor foreign players, domestic players are only average. The only star, captain Thanh Trung, after being followed by interested teams, is increasingly losing influence. For Quang Nam now, many people think that the chance to enter the top 3 is still difficult, let alone successfully defending the championship.