Xuan Manh, Van Duc shine, SLNA wins convincingly against HAGL

Van Duc had an impressive match when hosting HAGL. Photo: Chung Nguyen

5,000 fans present at the stadium created a fiery atmosphere from all the stands of Vinh Stadium when the home team welcomed HAGL.

As usual, SLNA still played with a 3-5-2 formation. The understanding between Xuan Manh and Van Duc created smooth and effective attacks on the left wing.

In the first minutes, the Vinh team brought a completely different style of play compared to the previous match. Olaha played the role of a withdrawn striker, he operated quite widely, creating a triangle of coordination with Van Duc and Xuan Manh. Oseni played the role of a striker. With that style of play, SLNA created quite sharp attacks.

The Nghe An team had a better game than the away team. However, HAGL's defense, including quality central defenders such as Kim Dong Su and Barbosa, repeatedly neutralized Oseni. A fairly solid game was applied by the mountain town club, which made SLNA's chances not appear much in the away team's goal.

SLNA did not have many combinations in front of Tuan Linh's goal. However, they still had shots from outside the penalty area. And if they were lucky, Xuan Manh could have opened the score in the 32nd minute of the match. It was a beautiful curling shot from the defender wearing the number 7 shirt, but unfortunately the HAGL goalkeeper made an excellent save.

In the last minute of the first half, from a lightning counterattack, Van Duc had a lightning-fast breakthrough, then fired a low shot into the far corner of Tuan Linh's goal, but unfortunately could not defeat this goalkeeper. But Nghe An fans did not have to be too regretful. Because right after that, from a corner kick, Xuan Manh jumped high to head the ball to open the score for SLNA.

In the second half, coach Huy Hoang brought Mai Sy Hoang onto the field to replace central defender Thai Ba Sang. Xuan Manh was pulled back to play central defender. This was to bring certainty to SLNA's defense.

SLNA players celebrate. Photo: Chung Nguyen

With that change, SLNA still attacked flexibly from both wings. In the 48th minute, Van Duc had a regrettable miss. Oseni flipped the ball as if placed on the right wing, the ball reached the head of midfielder Yen Thanh but this player was startled for a moment, so he could not touch the ball accurately.

Conceding a goal, HAGL showed their determination by proactively increasing the tempo of their attacks. Kiatisuk's team created 3 shots that could have scored in the 56th minute of the match. First, Hong Duy's shot forced goalkeeper Van Hoang to push the ball away. Van Toan rushed in to shoot the rebound but still could not beat Van Hoang. Then Brandao shot again but the ball flew over the bar.

The second half of the match was extremely exciting, the consecutive opportunities created by both teams made the atmosphere at Vinh Stadium much hotter than the first half. In the 67th minute, Van Duc doubled the gap for the Nghe team with a beautiful long-range shot that goalkeeper Tuan Linh could not block. The person who created the goal for Van Duc was rookie Oseni.

After scoring 2 goals, SLNA proactively slowed down the pace of the match and played more confidently. This was a reasonable strategy for the Nghe An team to get their 2nd win after 3 rounds.

In the next round, SLNA will visit Saigon FC on March 12.