Hanoi Police Chase
V-League 2023-2024 will end the first leg with 5 rounds after Tet from February 17 to March 9, before pausing for the Vietnamese team to focus on 2 crucial matches in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup against the Indonesian team.
The 5 rounds (from round 9 to round 13) lasting 22 days (average of more than 4 days/match) will be a marathon battle requiring teams to calculate physical strength as well as force conservation - very difficult problems. Just misjudging the opponent's changes after more than 1 month or losing focus leading to bad results will bring many bad consequences.
Will Bui Hoang Viet Anh (competing with Tien Linh) and Hanoi Police rise in the last 5 rounds of the first leg?
The current V-League rankings after 8 rounds are as follows: 1/Nam Dinh Dinh 19 points, 2/Binh Dinh: 16 points, 3/Becamex Binh Duong: 16 points, 4/Thanh Hoa: 15 points, 5/Hanoi Police: 12 points, 6/HCMC: 12 points, 7/Hai Phong: 11 points, 8/Hanoi: 10 points, 9/Quang Nam: 9 points, 10/SLNA: 9 points, 11/The Cong Viettel: 8 points, 12/Hong Linh Ha Tinh: 6 points, 13/Khanh Hoa: 6 points, 14/LPBank HAGL: 5 points.
With this polarization, it is clear that the competition for the championship in the first leg is only focused on the leading group, from Nam Dinh team to Hanoi Police team, the rest will find it very difficult to compete for the top spot after round 13.
Apart from the 4 leading teams with a large gap in points compared to the following group, the contention for the championship in the first leg is indisputable. There will be opinions asking why the Hanoi Police team and the Ho Chi Minh City team have the same number of points, even the capital team is only 1 point ahead of Hai Phong and 2 points ahead of Hanoi, but they are considered to be able to threaten the group in the "big four", while the other opponents are not?
Sam Ngoc Duc (77) of Ho Chi Minh City team competes for the ball with Nguyen Thai Son of Thanh Hoa
Expert Doan Minh Xuong analyzed: "In theory, it is true that the teams of Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong or Hanoi must be considered, but because in the matches in the next 5 rounds, most of these teams compete with each other while some strong teams in the top 4 have an advantage when meeting weaker teams. Therefore, even if they win a few matches, the point gap is not necessarily leveled. Therefore, it is very difficult for them to surpass and take the first place. Meanwhile, the defending champion, Hanoi Police, in terms of potential, is still a strong team, with many stars, many pillars who are very brave, and can create breakthroughs. In the next 4/5 matches, the Police team will only meet Thanh Hoa, which is formidable, so they are still strong enough to regain their inherent strength, as they did in their resounding 3-0 victory over Binh Duong. Therefore, the team led by Kiatisak can still be in the group competing to chase the leading position in the first leg".
Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa face tough opponents, while Binh Duong and Binh Dinh have advantages.
In the next 5 rounds, Nam Dinh will meet Hai Phong, Binh Dinh, SLNA (all away), Hanoi, Thanh Hoa (home). 4/5 of these opponents will be very difficult for coach Vu Hong Viet and his team. Nam Dinh's rise to the top after 8 rounds is not only due to the team's strength and progress but also due to a lucky match schedule when the first rounds all met weak opponents. When facing the Hanoi Police and Binh Duong teams, the team from Thanh Nam will face many challenges. Therefore, in the next 5 rounds, with 4 most difficult matches against Hai Phong, Binh Dinh and Hanoi, it will not be easy for Nam Dinh to defend the top position.
Can Van Toan help Nam Dinh keep the lead in the first leg?
Similarly, Thanh Hoa's 5 rounds were also very tense when they met Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hanoi Police, HAGL and Nam Dinh, it was not easy for coach Popov and his team to get points. In the early stages of the first leg, Thanh Hoa had many good matches such as winning against Binh Dinh at Quy Nhon Stadium but also had some unconvincing matches, such as losing to Binh Duong or drawing at home against Ha Tinh and Ho Chi Minh City. Because of this lack of stability, when facing tough opponents, there was no guarantee that the Thanh team would bounce back.
Dinh Trong (left) returns, Binh Dinh's defense is stronger
Meanwhile, the schedule of the next 5 rounds of Binh Dinh and Binh Duong is quite favorable. Binh Dinh only has a tough match against Nam Dinh, but at home, the other 4 matches against SLNA, TP.HCM, Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa, can completely accumulate good points. Binh Dinh under the hands of coach Bui Doan Quang Huy shows surprising progress, especially the resounding victories on away matches against Hanoi (1-0), Ha Tinh (4-0) or Hai Phong (1-0) and a big win over The Cong Viettel 4-1 at home. If maintaining this form, Binh Dinh is a team with full ability to threaten Nam Dinh's top position.
Vo Minh Trong (right) is making progress with Binh Duong to compete with Quang Hai
It would be a mistake not to include Binh Duong. Although they stumbled in two matches against two capital teams, Hanoi and Hanoi Police, the team led by coach Le Huynh Duc has had many good matches, and is the only team currently to defeat all three teams at the top of the V-League, Nam Dinh, Binh Dinh and Thanh Hoa.
The upcoming schedule of this team is also very favorable when meeting many teams in the lower group such as Quang Nam, The Cong Viettel, Ha Tinh, SLNA, only meeting TP.HCM, a team in the upper group at Thong Nhat Stadium, but also a team that Binh Duong is not afraid of. Therefore, like Binh Dinh, if they show their strength well, Tien Linh, Que Ngoc Hai, Hai Huy and teammates are enough to dethrone Nam Dinh to win the first place in the first leg.
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