Goalkeeper position at SLNA: The crisis of surplus and shortage

In the past, Song Lam Nghe An was considered the cradle of quality goalkeepers. SLNA owned goalkeepers who became legends of Nghe An football teams such as Xuan Thuy, Xuan Vinh, the generation of Vo Van Hanh, Nguyen The Anh, Duong Hong Son. Among them, there were 2 faces who won the Vietnam Golden Ball award.

One of the teachers who trained those outstanding goalkeepers for SLNA was Coach Nguyen Xuan Thuy (Thuy "ngheo"). However, in the period from 2004, when this coach left SLNA, the Nghe An team began to enter a period of goalkeeper crisis from the youth team.

After saying goodbye to their best goalkeepers like Vo Van Hanh, Duong Hong Son, Tran Duc Cuong, the Nghe An team only has goalkeepers with average skills or those with health problems like Duc Anh, Viet Nam in V.League 2008.

SLNA currently has 5 goalkeepers. Photo: SLNA FC

Until V.League 2009, coach Nguyen Van Thinh was forced to use a foreign goalkeeper, Shihavy Michal from the Czech Republic, who transferred from The Cong. A year after coach Huu Thang returned, Shihavy joined HAGL, and this coach continued to use foreign goalkeeper Goran Brasnic.

The failure to nurture any goalkeepers in the previous period has caused the Nghe An team to continue to be in a situation of lacking good goalkeepers in V.League 2011. SLNA's number 1 goalkeeper this season is a completely unfamiliar face - Nguyen Huynh Quoc Cuong from Long An.

Fortunately for SLNA, in the 2011 season when coach Huu Thang and his team won the championship, they were able to promote young goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh, only 20 years old, to practice. In the 2012 V.League, Viet Nam returned to the starting position in SLNA's goal before Nguyen Manh was gradually given the opportunity. In the first season, Nguyen Manh was the starting goalkeeper in 7/10 matches.

Goalkeeper Nguyen Manh has always been a reliable choice of SLNA's coaching staff over the years. Photo: VPF

During the 8 years from 2012-2019, Nguyen Manh was always SLNA's number 1 goalkeeper, and for many years was the main goalkeeper of the national team. However, in 2018, fans witnessed a real crisis in the goalkeeper position when he and the two reserve goalkeepers Van Hung and Van Tien were all injured, and goalkeeper Phan Dinh Vu Hai was loaned to play throughout the 2018 V.League season.

When Nguyen Manh returned, he only played for 1 year and joined Viettel Club. Of course, SLNA had to find a new goalkeeper worthy of replacing him in the context that Le Quang Dai had left the team, Le Van Hung was injured, Van Tien and the young goalkeepers were too inexperienced.

And once again, SLNA had to spend money on transfers, the person chosen to replace Nguyen Manh was goalkeeper Nguyen Van Hoang from Saigon Club. Since V.League 2009, this is the 5th time SLNA has been in a situation of lacking a good goalkeeper and the signing bonus to get a 1-year contract with Van Hoang is nearly 1 billion VND.

Over the years, SLNA has had to use foreign goalkeepers or goalkeepers from other clubs many times. Graphics: TK

After 2 matches against Saigon and B. Binh Duong, goalkeeper Van Hoang showed that he is worthy of being the successor of his senior Nguyen Manh. With a total of 9 saves, the goalkeeper's stable performance helped the team's defense keep a clean sheet. Obviously, this is a contract worth "every penny". However, the fact that a team like SLNA has to spend an extra transfer slot for the goalkeeper position for many years is an ironic paradox.

When Le Van Hung just returned from injury, in addition to Van Hoang who is the main goalkeeper, SLNA has 4 other options including Tran Van Tien (1994), Duong Van Cuong (1999), Ho Van Tu (1995) and Ho Viet Dai (2000). However, the person with the highest potential to compete with Van Hoang for the starting position can only be Van Hung (1992).

It can be said that SLNA's goalkeeper force is quite strong, but there are too many reserve goalkeepers and not enough goalkeepers who can play as main goalkeepers. In the youth team, goalkeeper Nguyen Van Ba ​​(2001) - U19 Vietnam national team player, Nguyen Van Viet, Dang Xuan Son (U16 Vietnam national team) are promising factors. I think SLNA needs to prepare right now to always be proactive for the goalkeeper position, which is considered 50% of the strength of a team.

Nguyen Manh, Cong Phuong and the 'blockbuster' transfers of V.League 2020

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