V-League 2022: A dull or dramatic ending?

Fortunately for V-League, Van Quyet and his teammates lost easily in the first half, then rose up to win in the second half but in the end had to "apologize to the boss" for ruining their family's happy day. The opportunity opened up for the neighboring teams, Hai Phong and Topenland Binh Dinh, teams that are both strong and have strong support from fans and the locality, besides Viettel, who are not excellent but are also very difficult to beat at the moment.

Ho Chi Minh City Club just suffered the heaviest defeat in V.League this season. Photo: VPF

That's in theory, but in reality, the races at the top and bottom of the table from round 22 will be dramatic or boring, everyone knows. Unlike previous seasons, from 2022, whenV. LeagueBeing "promoted", there will be up to 3 teams participating in the continental and regional cups, so the race will be more interesting. The group of teams with medals will receive this honor to represent Vietnamese football in the official AFC Champions League group stage and 2 AFC Champions League play-off spots. Therefore, if they are truly "professional", even winning 3rd place at the end of the season is a success. It is worth mentioning that not all V-League teams have enough financial and human resources to go to the "big sea" which is both expensive and tiring, and the achievements are far away? After what Hanoi FC, Viettel or Hoang Anh Gia Lai showed last season, hopefully Vietnamese football will have more representatives to compete well in the upcoming continental and regional cups.

The middle group of V-League has long been a place of leisure for all calculations when competing is useless, relegation is impossible. The matches of the middle group are therefore less competitive, more procedural, boring to watch but familiar with the village rules, no one finds fault and there is no reason to discipline. Hoang Anh Gia Lai or Song Lam Nghe An belong to this group, so whether they lose or draw, everything still goes with the flow, the poor group of fans are tired of waiting for a time of joy and victory is also far away. The way people are excited is top 3, when they are down, "out of top 3 so..." without any awkwardness shows that saying is one thing but doing is... never believe?

Van Duc shone in Song Lam Nghe An's draw with Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Chung Le

It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the group that “gives favors”, “stores points” for the teams that are thirsty, racing to avoid the unwanted bottom group. There are countless reasons for this group’s matches, including testing young players for next season, injuries, penalty cards, personal mistakes, defense errors, referee mistakes… They know, but people still talk and blame. Meanwhile, the people in charge of the tournament hope for everything to be finished, everything to be resolved later, but can they wait… until Tet?

This 2022 season has another "luck" in that no team is identified as a "point warehouse" for people to compete to beat up, and then be relegated before the end of the tournament. The teams that take turns finishing at the bottom such as Nam Dinh, Saigon FC or Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Linh Ha Tinh... when in danger, all have specific "decisive battles" such as changing generals to change their luck, doping bonuses... so until now, it is impossible to say which of these 4 teams will be the victim of bad luck. Not only that, this season there are also potential candidates for relegation such as SHB Da Nang, even... Hoang Anh Gia Lai when it is unclear whether they will have a victory as a gift for fans in the next round or not, after 9 rounds of not winning?

Whoever is “strong” will overcome the relegation, through the results of many matches on the field and quietly somewhere, even though evidence is a luxury. The end of the game is like that, the end of the season, the afternoon market is like that. Hopefully the above unmentionable things will be wrong, gradually wrong in the vivid reality of the V-League field from the opening to the closing? How fortunate that the V-League still has teams worth watching like Hanoi, Hai Phong, Viettel or Topenland Binh Dinh…, teams that are attractive enough to attract audiences to the field, qualified enough to represent a football foundation in the region and continent, enough to overshadow the current lack of professionalism…