Erosion of trust

(Baonghean) -Whether winning or losing, what fans need most is the attitude and honesty of the players every time they take the field, not acting or deceiving the audience.

1.The echoes of the match between HAGL and SLNA in the 22nd round of the V.League may still haunt Nghe An fans. In that match, although they had heard rumors that SLNA would give Mr. Duc's team points to escape relegation, more than 3,000 Nghe An fans still did not believe it and traveled thousands of kilometers to Pleiku to cheer for their hometown team. As excited as they were when they arrived in the mountain town, they were just as sad when they returned. Because they did not expect their hometown team to have a strange defeat against HAGL. A scenario that Nghe An fans had anticipated but still felt infinitely sad, feeling that their love for the team was being betrayed by the SLNA players. The proof is that on many forums, Nghe An fans could not hide their anger, some people asked the VFF to investigate this match, some fans even cited a sarcastic poem from the past: "Cheers to our province's football team/Just returned from working far away". It took a lot of effort for SLNA to build its brand and gain the admiration of its home fans, but it seems that the love of Nghe An fans is fading after SLNA's unusual and unfortunate matches.

A scene in the first leg match between SLNA and HAGL at Vinh Stadium.

To be fair, compared to the investment of other teams in the V.League and with their current strength, SLNA maintaining a position in the middle of the rankings is an effort. With a squad of young players trained by themselves, SLNA is still a formidable opponent in the V.League. No matter where they play, Nghe An fans still create "Thanh Vinh Fire Pots" in the away stands. SLNA has many things that other rich teams desire. However, in football, it is not as simple as some players who participated in match-fixing at the 23rd SEA Games once thought that if they won the match and fixed the score, it would be okay (after that match, although Vietnam beat Myanmar 1-0, in the end, the players who participated in the betting were appropriately sentenced to prison). Because whether they win or lose, what fans need most here is the attitude and honesty of the players every time they take the field, not acting or deceiving the audience.

2.In football, it is not always the team that is considered stronger that will win. On a good day, the weaker teams can suddenly rise up and defeat the giants. That is the appeal of this sport. When watching matches in the Premier League or the European Championship, Vietnamese football fans consider it normal. But for V.League, those matches are immediately suspected of being "smelly" and "directed". Because the trust of fans has been eroded after many seasons, near the end of the season, V.League continuously has very unusual matches in both attitude and results. Before the ball rolls, the scores of these matches seem to have been decided and played out according to the intentions of the teams that are hungry for points. And the Organizing Committee keeps repeating the refrain: the match shows no signs of suspicion. Only the enthusiastic fans who brave the sun and rain to accompany the teams feel sad and angry because their faith and love for the team is mercilessly "doused with cold water".

Duc Dung