Has Vinicius caught up with SLNA's playing style?

Sublimation in Go Dau

In the 23rd round of V.League, thousands of Nghe An fans witnessed the shining performance of the player wearing the number 94 shirt for Song Lam Nghe An. That day, Joel Vinicius scored a hat-trick against Binh Duong, helping Mr. Nguyen Duc Thang and his team win 5-1 away, approaching the top 3.

The Brazilian player entered the top 3 "top scorers" with 11 goals, only behind Pape Omar of Hanoi FC who is leading the list with 3 goals. What is special is that Vinicius had 6 goals when playing for Ho Chi Minh City FC in the first leg and he has 5 goals for SLNA in the second leg. Surprisingly, of the 11 goals, 5 goals were scored by Joel Vinicius at Go Dau Stadium against B.Binh Duong.

In football, people will not evaluate the level of a player by one match, but need to observe and monitor. With the hat-trick at Go Dau stadium, Joel Vinicius's opening goal was lucky when the referee did not detect that this foreign player was clearly offside.

Vinicius played his best match since joining SLNA. Photo courtesy of Huu Thanh

Joel Vinicius scored the goal that sealed the 5-1 win, but the credit goes to Olaha for his sprinting ability. In this situation, striker No. 94 knew how to position himself well to receive the pass, something that the duo did not do well in previous matches.

The fourth goal at Go Dau Stadium was the one that most clearly marked this striker. From a long pass from goalkeeper Nguyen Manh, Joel Vinicius took advantage of his physique and physical strength to sweep between the two foreign defenders of B.Binh Duong to score. This is the strong point of this Brazilian foreign player.

Waiting for the chance to shine on Vinh Stadium

Want to know what kind of striker Joel Vinicius is? Is he suitable for SLNA's style of play? We will analyze more deeply Joel Vinicius' 11 goals so far this season. This foreign player has 10 goals with his left foot (favorable foot), 1 goal with his right foot and no successful headers.

3 of Joel Vinicius' 11 goals were scored from the penalty spot. 6 of the 11 goals scored by this striker were made from quick counter-attacks, mainly pressing and dribbling past people. This striker is not good at handling tight spaces, rarely has assist situations, only scored 1 goal in slow-moving attacking situations from home.

Reviewing the video, Joel Vinicius's 11 goals were all within 16.5m, of which 3 were within 5.5m. This is also a rather unfortunate limitation for the striker from the land of Samba, which is famous for having many players with flexible ankles, able to score from a distance of 25 - 30m.

When Vinicius scored, SLNA flourished. Photo courtesy of Huu Thanh

The Brazilian foreign player handles better situations where the ball is passed into open space in front of him so he can use his speed to steal the ball and approach the opponent's goal better than close-range shots.

Vinicius's first-step ball control technique is not perfect, making this striker confused when handling powerful passes from teammates, close-range and often losing the ball. But when he needs to rush to steal the ball to attack, even the two foreign central defenders Shumeiko and Rabo Ali of the home team B.Binh Duong still cannot keep up with this foreign player.

Vinicius is more dangerous when playing on the right wing, just need to race with the opponent's defense and then turn the ball to the right wing and this striker can shoot into the opponent's goal.

When moving to the left wing, being pressed tightly by the B.Binh Duong defenders close to the touchline, this foreign player almost lost the ball because Vinicius's ability to turn and fake movements was quite clumsy and easy to predict. Only when Dinh Dong or other midfielders supported could the deadlock be broken.

Vinicius needs more time to prove his scoring ability. Photo courtesy of Huu Thanh

In the context of V.League not having many good foreign players in recent years, there are many teams like Viettel, HAGL, B.Binh Duong... playing "concession" then Vinicius with 11 goals is considered acceptable.

But it is too hasty to judge Vinicius as suitable for SLNA’s playing style, because the incomplete technical parameters have already shown what this foreign player needs to show more. The defense of the away team Hanoi in the upcoming match is the best “test” for Vinicius, if he wants to continue staying at Vinh Stadium next season.