V-League and the story of good teachers

It is a habit for powerful, well-invested teams to quickly achieve results like Hanoi FC, something everyone knows. Dong A Thanh Hoa rose to 2nd place in the rankings, surpassing Binh Dinh, ultimately thanks to having a good coach and good foreign players, and they are just repeating the results they had before.

The problem is why did Hanoi Police attract almost all the stars from Binh Duong, Song Lam Nghe An, Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Binh Dinh, PVF... but only had a resounding opening match, then lost and drew 4 matches? So many speculations took place, the team patched up one place but broke another, in which the fundamental cause was from the coaching bench?

Why did Binh Duong “buy” 4 top quality foreign players at once, including a naturalized player, 2 foreign players like Moses and Rimario, arrange the “most terrifying” striker pair in V-League, Rimario-Tien Linh, and have in hand the best young pair of Vy Hao-Anh Khoa… but still play so poorly?

Although unable to win all 3 points, Song Lam Nghe An had a pretty good performance against Binh Duong. Photo courtesy of Chung Le

The Blue Steel Nam Dinh suddenly rose from poverty to wealth, with money to "renovate" almost the entire team, leaving only a few faces from Thanh Nam, which was already a strange thing, and it was even stranger that the audience did not turn their backs. This team played fairly well in the first matches, but in the 5th round, they started to face difficulties against their opponents, even though they played at Thien Truong Stadium. The young coach began to feel the difficulty of the V-League when everything seemed easy, but it was not at all.

What to say when Hoang Anh Gia Lai has a group of famous U19 players who became stars of Thuong Chau, and are constantly on the Vietnam national team, but they play in the V-League as sporadically as cold rice, until most of them leave the mountain town, to bring back those who were loaned out like Ngoc Quang, Quang Nho, along with young players Quoc Viet, Duc Viet, Thanh Nhan... and play well in every way, drowning Viettel right at home at Hang Day Stadium? Now people can see how experienced Kitisuk is when facing Thach Bao Khanh, a brand new player in the V-League but a risky player in playing style.

Strong teams rise, teams that seem strong but are actually weak as mentioned above, are understandable thanks to the answer from practice. But there are teams that are strong in theory, but in reality are not, leading to the result of not winning but also not losing to anyone after 5 rounds. That is Song Lam Nghe An. In the squad, there are 3 foreign players playing regularly, there are at least national players such as Van Hoang, Ngoc Hai, Trong Hoang, Xuan Manh, there is a young squad full of potential, there is a chance to win the match thanks to taking the lead... but draw and only draw?

Round 6 match schedule - V-League1-2023. Photo VFF

When Dong A Thanh Hoa is playing well now, when Hoang Anh Gia Lai's difficult period has passed neatly, people know the contributions of talented foreign coaches such as Popov (former head coach of the Myanmar National Team), Kiatisuk (former head coach of the Thai National Team). It turns out that in football as in life, the immortal proverb "Without a teacher, you can't do anything" always comes true. Regarding the English Premier League, those who have watched Chelsea's poor performance this season know that the number one reason is the lack of a coach capable enough to guide the stars worth hundreds of millions of euros in transfer fees.

And those who follow footballLam River Nghe AnFor a long time now, especially from the U17, U19, U21, and first team, it is clear why the higher the team goes, the more the championship, runner-up, and top 3 are further and further away from the famous Vinh team? The reason is pointed out to be because the coaching staff is not/is not qualified enough to lead young talents? To be more precise, Song Lam Nghe An does not lack good, dedicated coaches, but they have not been used in the right place, at the right time, or have they been transferred to many other more suitable places, where they are more appreciated, and their talents are better developed?

In the national U17 final this year, in the Hong Linh Ha Tinh U17 technical area, there were many veteran coaches from Nghe An. Is that an example? Hong Linh Ha Tinh does not have as many advantages as Song Lam Nghe An but is playing better than the neighboring team due to many reasons, but we cannot ignore the talent of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cong, as we all know.

HAGL had an impressive victory over Viettel. Photo: VNA

For a long time, the "brand" of the Vinh football team is that both the teachers and students have their roots in the famous Dao Tan street, and it is very difficult for anyone else to succeed. Now it is still the same way, but for a long time it has not brought any success, on the contrary, it has left the team divided into five or seven, those who are worthy are abandoned, those who are not up to the task are used, and the consequences are immediately evident. Unfortunately, the countless professional ways of doing things here do not go hand in hand with the desired quality of play of the team. And in any way, there must be someone worthy to stand up and take responsibility, but as it is now, it is very difficult, not knowing what to say, what to complain about, what to believe?

So, Ngoc Hai and his teammates ran tirelessly, played with obvious breakthroughs, fired 20 shots but only succeeded once, meaning that the deadlock and lack of luck had an internal, cumulative cause, don't blame it on "having to accept bad luck, forgetting about good luck". The reason is clear as day right in the technical area, it's not a matter of bad luck or good luck. Everyone knows that with just one adjustment from the coach, the team can turn from defeat to victory and why does sports produce masters that make the world admire and respect them, and what is it that Song Lam Nghe An is seriously lacking?