XSKT.Can Tho - Nam Dinh: Million dollar match

“Wizard” Vu Quang Bao kept his promise to the club’s leadership, winning a ticket to take Can Tho to the play-off match. But whether they can stay in the V-League or not still has to overcome 2 obstacles, the first of which is the eternal match against the visiting team Nam Dinh. The match in which they only have one “way to survive” is to win all 3 points, while the away team only needs a draw to have a ticket to the play-off match.

Correlation of forces

In terms of force, both teams do not have any players banned from playing due to receiving a card. In the previous round, coach Vu Quang Bao even took the initiative to "waive the white flag" at Hang Day Stadium in the match against Hanoi FC.

He kept a series of key players such as goalkeeper Vinh Loi, Tung Quoc, Cao Cuong, Phuong Tam, Cong Thanh, Wander Luiz, Duc Loc to prepare for the reception of Nam Dinh. If Nam Dinh only has 1 foreign player Pereira and naturalized goalkeeper Quoc Thien Ésele, Can Tho, in addition to 2 foreign players, also has naturalized player Hoang Vissai.

XSKT.Can Tho's foreign players are considered stronger than the away team. Photo: Internet

Talking about the force, the foreign pair Wander Luiz and Patiyo Tambwe of the home team have 12 and 10 goals, "beating" Pereira Diogo of Nam Dinh who only has 7 goals. Foreign players are 50% of the strength of XSKT.Can Tho, this is something coach Van Sy and the Nam Dinh players understand clearly. But how to prevent that is the important issue. Wander Luiz and Patiyo both play aggressively, focusing on strength, so center back Huu Quy and his teammates must distribute their strength appropriately throughout the 90 minutes.

Nam Dinh in this decisive match welcomes the return of Sy Minh, their most important player this season. Playing in the center position in the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, Sy Minh has scored 6 goals for the team from Nam. Sy Minh and Viet Tu are the 2 best free kickers of Nam Dinh this season. Nam Dinh's left wing with the mobility of Ha Long and Sy Minh is the main attack direction of this team.

Who will be lucky?

Although the Referee Board has prepared the best referees for the “reverse final”, due to the importance of the match, the V-League 2018 Executive Board has invited a Malaysian referee team. In addition, most of the VFF and VPF officials will be present in the stands to observe this match.

On the Nam Dinh side, before this match, the Nam Dinh Supporters Association gave 50 million VND to the coaching staff and players of the team to encourage and motivate them. There will be several hundred Nam Dinh fans present in the stands of Can Tho Stadium to cheer for the team in this tense match.

Standings after round 25.

This is a difficult match to predict the result, XSKT.Can Tho has the home field advantage, foreign players but the away team Nam Dinh only needs a draw to have a wide path to continue. Nam Dinh takes advantage of set pieces better thanks to the dangerous strikers Sy Minh and Viet Tu.

There will certainly be many fierce moves from both teams. While the away team Nam Dinh will try to slow down the pace of the match and defend tightly with a large number of players, the home team Can Tho will have to find a way to score.

Both coach Quang Bao and Van Sy understood that the team that scored first would have a chance to win. XSKT.Can Tho had to attack but could not be careless and concede the first goal.

Sharing with the press before the match, coach Van Sy excitedly said: "We have prepared very carefully for this match, the players are very excited. I believe 80% Nam Dinh will win." Meanwhile, "wizard" Quang Bao wants to prove to the Tay Do audience that he is the right person for Can Tho football. 2 years ago, the audience here hung banners in the stands demanding him to leave, but when the team was in trouble, he put aside everything to lead the team to the play-off match.