Round 14 V-League 2017 (SLNA- Than QN): 4th consecutive win?

(Baonghean.vn) - At 5:00 p.m. on June 24, 2017, the second leg of V-League 2017 will resume, at Vinh Stadium, the home team SLNA will meet Than Quang Ninh. It has been a long time since Nghe An fans have seen SLNA ranked as the favorite and are full of hope to get 3 points against a strong away team.

The host SLNA has just transformed with 3 consecutive wins against Hanoi FC and Ho Chi Minh City Club in the National Cup. Meanwhile, the reigning National Cup champion Than Quang Ninh has said goodbye to this tournament early after clashing with SHB.Da Nang.

Therefore, Vinh fans are full of hope that Nguyen Manh and his teammates will confidently compete to have their 4th consecutive win.

Identify the away team

Defender Ngoc Duc (3 SLNA) will have many intense confrontations with Tu "horse" of Than Quang Ninh. Photo: Internet.

As one of the most successful coaches in V-League, when he returned to Cam Pha Stadium, Coach Phan Thanh Hung quickly created his own style of play for the team from the mining land. In his second year in Quang Ninh, the Quang Ninh-born coach brought Nguyen Sa, former captain of SHB.Da Nang, to Cam Pha Stadium to control the tempo of the match.

The strength of this former national player is the ability to hold the ball, making many long, deep diagonal passes, and making high-precision passes along the sidelines. With someone to play the ball, the Minh Tuan-Xuan Tu wing can be put into effect, this is the wing midfielder pair with the fastest dribbling speed on the Vietnamese football field today. Tu "horse"'s playing style is quite similar to The Anh, a winger of The Cong and the Vietnam national team at one time thanks to his ability to constantly change direction when dribbling on the sidelines.

Compared to Tu “horse”, Minh Tuan’s mobility is wider, the captain of Than Quang Ninh also has the ability to shoot from afar and goalkeeper Nguyen Manh has been a victim of this player. Not SLNA, but many other teams if caught in Than Quang Ninh’s style of play, can easily fall into the trap set by coach Phan Thanh Hung.

The reigning National Cup champion Than Quang Ninh has said goodbye to the National tournament early after a clash with SHB.Da Nang. Photo: Internet.

Compared to the first leg, Than Quang Ninh has 2 new foreign players, striker Dyachenko and Brazilian midfielder Marcao (most likely to play in round 14), the remaining foreign player is striker Patiyo. Due to poor performance, the 2 foreign players, midfielder Ramon and striker Jardel, have just had their contracts terminated by the team in the mining land.

The Russian-born striker has been with T.Quang Ninh for more than a season. In V.League 2016, this striker is the top scorer for the team from the mining land with 12 goals. Note to SLNA's coaching staff that the Brazilian midfielder was born in 1990, a product of the Atlético Paranaense training center, one of the famous Brazilian teams that plays very well with his head since the beginning of the year, and has scored 4 goals with his head.

Confidence returns

SLNA has had a "transformation" during the break after the first leg of V-League. Determining to "handicap the West", the coaching staff sent a series of young players onto the field, adjusting the connection of the midfield. Olaha was freed from the task of scoring goals, playing low in the role of "guardian" with Van Vinh and Khac Ngoc, the task of the center forward was assigned to Phuc Tinh. The midfield was required to boldly hold the ball, use many short, low passes, combine both flanking and central attacks, and diversify the hand attack instead of long, high passes like before.

Phi Son was allowed to play freely, often switching positions with The Cuong (and Van Duc) and Phuc Tinh. This new style of play helped SLNA's formation to be closer together, consumed less physical energy and in fact, in the matches with Hanoi FC and Ho Chi Minh City Club, it was effective.

Despite playing with 2 foreign players and 1 naturalized player, Hanoi FC players were weaker than SLNA's young players. Ngoc Duc, SLNA's left-back, who was the weak point of the Nghe An team, now boldly overlapped and cut into the opponent's flank. If left-back Ngoc Duc maintained his form and locked down Tu "horse", and the other winger The Nhat stopped Minh Tuan, SLNA's chance of winning the match was over 50%.

SLNA is in good form having reached the semi-finals of the 2017 National Cup. Photo: Internet.

With 8 goals in 3 matches, including 2 goals from Phuc Tinh and Van Duc, the confidence of SLNA players has increased significantly. In addition to Khac Ngoc, who has matured, Thanh Phong and Sy Sam have played quite well when they were on the field. That allows SLNA's coaching staff to have more options for the central midfielder position when facing Than Quang Ninh.

In the first leg at Cam Pha Stadium, SLNA players let the home team control the ball 65% of the time, continuously exploiting the two wings and finally allowing Minh Tuan to score 2 goals before Khac Ngoc scored 1 goal. In this confrontation at Vinh Stadium, the home team confidently controlled the ball, played slowly to avoid falling into the opponent's speed race, then victory would come.

Score prediction: 2-1

An Thanh