Round 18 V-League 2018: There was a strange round

V-League 2018 is in the final stage, all teams are trying to speed up to achieve their own goals, so the matches are getting hotter. Due to the hot weather and staying up all night to watch the 2018 World Cup, only the audiences from Thanh Nam still come to Thien Truong stadium to cheer for their team, other stadiums are deserted.

Increase the number of red and yellow cards

Except for Hang Day Stadium, where referee Ngo Duy Lan did not have to show a card, the remaining 6 stadiums used quite a lot of cards, even at Thong Nhat Stadium, referee Truong Hong Vu had 2 red cards divided equally between FLC Thanh Hoa and Saigon. That was the situation.When center back Anh Vu received a direct red card for pushing Omar straight in the face, this foreign player was no pushover either.

There were still 10,000 Nam Dinh fans coming to the stadium to cheer for coach Van Sy and his team. Photo: Internet

On the “grass field” of Tam Ky, B.Binh Duong players also played hard to equalize 4 times after being continuously led by the home team. Referee Hoang Ngoc Ha had to use 5 yellow cards for the away team, and coach Minh Chien had to call his players back to the cabin to give instructions to avoid the situation of the match being broken.

The fact that S.Khanh Hoa scored 4 goals made Cong Phuong - a HAGL player who was trained in a standard playing attitude - angry. Instead of focusing on kicking the ball into the net to equalize, Cong Phuong was stunned when goalkeeper Tuan Manh was lying on the ground at the end of the match, forcing the referee to give him a yellow card.

With 3 red cards and 25 yellow cards, round 18 deserves to be considered the peak of violent matches. Not to mention that the organizers of Thien Truong Stadium will certainly receive punishment for allowing fans to go onto the field to "beat" the referee, and the coordinator had bad behavior towards reporters.

Unanswered questions

In terms of expertise, with 38 goals scored, this round has just set a record for V-League 2018. The average number of goals is 5.4 goals/match, far exceeding the 2.88 goals/match of the previous 17 rounds.

The audience watched the match between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with 9 goals, and the match between Quang Nam and B.Binh Duong with 8 goals. In this round, Hoang Vu O.Samson scored a poke within 26 minutes, while Dinh Thanh Trung and Tien Linh scored hat-tricks in the match at Tam Ky stadium. Having 2 hat-tricks in one match on European football fields is very rare, let alone on Vietnamese football fields!

Hoang Vu O.Samson scored a poke, raising the number of goals in V-League to 103. Photo: Internet

One round, without anyone telling anyone, none of the 4 bottom teams could get a draw. Even the home team Saigon was awarded a penalty by the referee, but Quoc Phuong - a former player of FLC Thanh Hoa pursed his lips and kicked the ball into the sky. How strange!

Not only the audience but also the insiders had to exclaim: "I also don't understand why every time I score a goal, the score is equalized. It feels very strange", Coach Hoang Van Phuc shared after the 4-4 draw against B.Binh Duong players in round 18 of Nuti Café V.League 2018. This was a match in which Quang Nam led by 4 goals but was equalized quite quickly, just like "possessed" - the common language of the football field.

At Hang Day Stadium, the away team without midfielder Van Thuan was completely defeated by Hanoi. But in just 10 minutes, the home team players “suddenly froze” while Coach Miura’s students scored 3 goals in a row as if they were in an empty space.

After the match, Mr. Hien had to remind: "It should be a bonus, but losing 3 goals like that is a penalty. We cannot be subjective. Even if we win 10-0, we still have to focus, we cannot be subjective and underestimate the opponent."

Of course, Hanoi still had a big win 6-3 but the audience was bewildered, not knowing what was happening and what would happen.

In that context, SLNA’s 6th consecutive victory at Nam Dinh Stadium was a bright spot. The domestic players played enthusiastically and effectively, the foreign players were “worth the money”, making Nghe An fans happy and the V-League Organizing Committee happy.