Round 9 V-League: Song Lam Nghe An and new hopes

Surprisingly, the teams that were ranked lower but rose strongly like Song Lam Nghe An won convincingly against the "dark horse" Meryland Quy Nhon Binh Dinh (2-0), Hong Linh Ha Tinh without 2 defensive pillars still won against Hoang Anh Gia Lai (1-0) or Dong A Thanh Hoa won against Hanoi FC (2-0)... or Quang Nam still had enough strength to hold Binh Duong to a draw away (1-1), Khanh Hoa held Viettel to a draw (0-0).

The teams that played well at home and won the precious 3 points were Song Lam Nghe An, Hong Linh Ha Tinh, Cong An Ha Noi, Dong A Thanh Hoa. Two strong teams that did not meet the requirements at the start of the tournament were Binh Duong and Viettel. The team that showed its strength from the beginning of the tournament was Thep Xanh Nam Dinh, who won away at Lach Tray of Hai Phong to "proudly" top the table with 22 points, 5 points ahead of the two teams behind, Dong A Thanh Hoa and Binh Duong. The bottom team after 9 rounds still belongs to Hoang Anh Gia Lai with only 5 points.

The teams that "changed generals" but could not "change their fortunes" right after round 9 were Hoang Anh Gia Lai with Mr. Vu Tien Thanh, Hanoi FC with Mr. Daiki and the same can be said for Viettel and Mr. Duc Thang.

Looking through a round of matches, despite the long break, most teams have actively and proactively prepared, not letting their players "lose their rhythm" unfortunately. Experts and fans expect teams to clearly show their desire to compete and contribute, gradually improving the quality of matches and tournaments according to current new requirements. In addition, the weaknesses of V-League must definitely be looked at, spoken about, and dealt with seriously, in order to create the best basic premise for the requirement to raise the level of the entire football industry.

In the last round 9, not only the French coach Philippe Troussier but also a large number of fans followed every step of the national players. They were quite worried when Dinh Bac was injured and might have to sit out the next 1-2 rounds in the Quang Nam squad. Van Lam's injury in the match at Vinh Stadium was a real worry for Meryland Quy Nhon Binh Dinh and the entire Vietnam National Team, although the position of the team's number 1 goalkeeper is currently being transferred to Nguyen Filip. Ngoc Hai was also not in the starting lineup in Binh Duong's draw with Quang Nam. Duy Manh and Thanh Chung did not play well in Hanoi FC's loss to Dong A Thanh Hoa. Hoang Duc, Tien Anh or Van Khang played quite lifelessly in the match against Khanh Hoa...

Round 9 also “introduced” some young faces in the overall achievements of the V-League. Those are the beautiful, convincing goals of Van Dat (Nam Dinh Green Steel) in the victory over Hai Phong, Ba Quyen and Xuan Dai (Song Lam Nghe An) in the victory over Meryland Binh Dinh, Dinh Tien (Hong Linh Ha Tinh) in the victory over Hoang Anh Gia Lai… Of course, we cannot fail to mention the scoring achievements of foreign players such as Gieovani (Hanoi Police), Hendrio (Nam Dinh Green Steel), Rimario or Antonio (Dong A Thanh Hoa)… Mr. Philippe Troussier’s concern about the attack of the Vietnam National Team is still true in the last round when Tien Linh, Tuan Hai or Van Tung… were all “silent”.

The results of the 9th round show that teams that are considered weak but "know the enemy, know yourself" can still make things happen like Quang Nam, Khanh Hoa and especially Song Lam Nghe An or Hong Linh Ha Tinh did to get 1 or 3 valuable points in the long race. Song Lam Nghe An did not let the "curse" of losing against Meryland Quy Nhon Binh Dinh haunt them. Captain Olaha was the "key" to the victory even though he did not directly score, when he created pressure forcing Ngoc Bao to pass the ball carelessly to the home field, forcing Van Lam to go up to block and get injured, causing the away team to be confused and lose the game and not be able to come back like they did in the past. This victory will encourage the young team, giving Song Lam more hope in the tough match ahead, when Xuan Tien returns and Nam Hai, Nguyen Hoang are still in "waiting" mode to play...

Meanwhile, it seems that the teams Hanoi FC and The Cong Viettel are still struggling with the story of "choosing a good coach" and cannot get results overnight. Kiatisuk had a smooth start with the Hanoi Police but clearly he has not faced a strong opponent so everything cannot be concluded early. The "chess game" therefore still contains many surprising and unsurprising factors in the upcoming rounds.

And the referee's action of not recognizing Gieovani's third goal in the match between Hanoi Police and Ho Chi Minh City shows that VAR is really taking part as expected and is an urgent thing to make V-League become fair, objective and attractive. Hopefully, the upcoming rounds will show many things worth talking about and watching from V-League, from before, during and even after the final whistle./.