National U19 Finals: SLNA off to a good start

(Baonghean.vn) - With a reasonable and confident playing style, Coach Nguyen Dinh Dung's students had a good match against S. Khanh Hoa players in the opening match of the National U19 Finals this afternoon, March 22.

As a "superior" team, U19 SLNA did not hesitate to take the initiative in the match with well-organized attacks. With the mobility of midfielder Dang Van Lam and striker Tran Tien Anh in the attack, U19 SLNA completely took the initiative in the first minutes of the match.

When the ball had only been rolling for 11 minutes, Mai Sy Hoang was the one who materialized the opportunities that he and his teammates created, opening the score of the match. In this situation, receiving the ball from the right wing, the SLNA midfielder took advantage of the weakness of the right-back S. Khanh Hoa before launching a low, tricky shot that broke the opponent's net.

U19 SLNA started smoothly thanks to 2 goals in the first half. Photo: Trung Kien

On the field, the U19 S. Khanh Hoa players tried very hard to regain control of the game, but the other team did not have any players to lead the game, so they were even more confused in the defense. With the advantage of leading, the U19 SLNA attack was not too hasty, but before the end of the first half, the students of coach Nguyen Dinh Dung still doubled the gap with a beautiful shot from outside the penalty area by striker Tran Tien Anh in the 33rd minute.

In the second half, U19 S. Khanh Hoa focused all their efforts on attacking to find an equalizer. And after several unsuccessful counterattacks, U19 SLNA conceded a goal in the 59th minute from a well-coordinated attack by the opposing team. The scorer for S. Khanh Hoa was Phuong Liem after a pass from his teammate.

In the remaining minutes, the U19 SLNA coaching staff began to strengthen the defense by bringing in Thai Bao Trung to replace Dang Van Lam. The 5-man midfield of U19 SLNA was quite successful in organizing a defense from a distance. At many times, U19 S. Khanh Hoa forced U19 SLNA to retreat to their home field, but the opportunities they created were not really sharp and sudden. At the same time, they encountered a tightly organized and disciplined defense of U19 SLNA.

Even when leading 2-1 and the gap was only 1 goal, U19 SLNA still missed clear scoring opportunities to score more goals. The match ended with a final score of 2-1 in favor of U19 SLNA. Overall, this was still a good and reasonable match for the representative from Nghe An.

Thus, with the first 3 points, coach Nguyen Dinh Dung and his team are sharing the leading position with U19 Hanoi with the same points and goal difference. And the second match of Group B between U19 SLNA and U19 Hanoi taking place on March 24 will also be very important for the ticket to the semi-finals.

Trung Kien