National U19 Finals 2017: U19 SLNA 'goes out and meets a mountain'

(Baonghean.vn) - The 2017 National U19 Finals were held from March 21 to March 31, 2017 at Quy Nhon Stadium, Binh Dinh. U19 SLNA was in Group B, considered the "group of death" of the tournament with the following names:U19 Hanoi, U19 PVF, U19 S.Khanh Hoa.

The reason why U19 SLNA is said to have a "mountain on their doorstep" is because they are in Group B with the defending champion U19 Hanoi, U19 PVF, U19 S.Khanh Hoa. Meanwhile, the host U19 Binh Dinh is in a relatively easy Group A with the participation of Thua Thien Hue, Viettel and Long An.

Accordingly, the teams will compete in a round robin to select the top two teams in each group to enter the semi-finals. The champion team will receive a cup, flag, gold medal and 80 million VND in prize money. The second-place team will receive a flag, silver medal and 50 million VND. The third-place team will receive a flag, bronze medal and 30 million VND. In addition, the National U19 Finals also has other secondary awards such as style awards, excellent player, top scorer, excellent goalkeeper, referee who completed the task excellently...

Two high mountains

Arriving in Quy Nhon, U19 PVF of coach Nguyen Huu Dang has many excellent young players who played successfully for U16 Vietnam in 2016 such as: Khac Khiem, Huu Thang, Huu Khiem, Huynh Sang. In the 2017 national U19 qualifying round, PVF was the unrivaled team with a record of 10 wins, 3 points, scoring 48 goals and conceding only 4 goals.

This team has all three lines, with excellent individuals who can create opportunities and change the game. Experts believe that Coach Nguyen Huu Dang's students are the strongest candidates for this championship. If there are not too many surprises, they will likely take the top spot in Group A.

A ball fight between U19 SLNA - U19 Hanoi T&T. Photo: Archive

In fact, U19 SLNA faced the defending champion U19 Hanoi in the group stage, winning 1 match and losing 1 match, but that does not mean they should be underestimated. They came to the National U19 Finals this year with the goal of successfully defending the championship title. The recent achievements of U19 Hanoi are also quite stable with 3 championships in 2011, 2014 and 2016. They have always been considered a "tough" opponent for U19 PVF in the past as well as this year's tournament.

U19 Khanh Hoa is also a familiar team in this playground. In fact, last year they played at home and reached the semi-finals of the National U19 Finals with quite a bit of scandal (U19 HN.T&T only sent the reserve team to play), but they are still considered a traditional training ground for youth football today. The match between U19 Khanh Hoa and U19 SLNA will be considered a key match for both teams, because the losing team has almost no chance of going further.

Learning from experience?

In the qualifying round of Group A, viewers witnessed a fierce competition between 3 famous training centers in the North: Hanoi, Viettel and SLNA. These three teams created a "three-horse" race in Group A when they all finished the first leg with the same 12 points, with 4 wins and 1 loss. In the second leg, Coach Nguyen Dinh Dung let a series of key players rest and arranged for reserve players to play the last 2 matches, showing that this coach is quite skillful.

Obviously, when they cannot be first or second in the group, this is the right time for young players to enter the field to test their mettle. In fact, among the 8 coaches participating in the final round, SLNA coach Dinh Dung is the one with the most experience in training young people. He has almost all the medals of the national youth tournaments at all age levels.

SLNA still holds the national record for the number of U19 championships with 5 times. However, since 2006 until now, the young team from Nghe An has not won a single championship due to fierce competition from other training centers such as Hanoi, Viettel or PVF. Photo: Archive

Although U19 SLNA entered the U19 Finals through the back door, the team ranked 3rd in the group with the best results, but those who understand football know that they cannot be underestimated. Especially when SLNA also has an "age handicap" when in the squad there are players born in 2001.

A series of young players such as Thai Bao Trung, Duong Van Cuong, Tran Tien Anh, especially captain Dang Van Lam promise to explode. Five U15 players, Tran Quoc Thanh, Pham Duc Manh, Tran Manh Quynh, Nguyen Xuan Binh and Ngo Van Luong, were brought to Quy Nhon, proving that SLNA's coaching staff is thinking long-term.

According to the tournament organizers' statistics, U19 SLNA is the youngest team, proving that the Nghe An team does not put too much emphasis on achievements, especially when falling into such a difficult group. But with a fairly favorable schedule, facing teams from weak to strong: U19 Khanh Hoa, U19 Hanoi and finally U19 PVF, if there are favorable conditions and good opportunities, there is no reason for them to ignore it.

Catcosan Vinh