SLNA Club's joy bursts with the equalizer 1-1 in the 90+4 minute
SLNA: The past is fading
Nghe An has always been considered the cradle of football with the most potential in Vietnam, to the point that to list all the SLNA stars who have contributed to the Vietnam team, it would take a long list.
In fact, the potential of the neighboring Thanh Hoa - a land with similar harsh natural conditions - is no less. However, Nghe An football always goes ahead and gives its opponents a "one-eyed" advantage thanks to the locality's fierce passion for investment, to the point of becoming a provincial policy.
But in the past few years, the team that once won 5 Vietnamese Golden Balls while playing at Vinh Stadium, held the record of winning the National Cup 3 times and the V-League 3 times... is now just a shadow of itself.
Financial difficulties, plus a series of scandals questioning the integrity of youth football, have caused the SLNA brand, once a powerhouse with a series of records such as the first team to reach 1,000 matches and 1,000 goals in Vietnam, to plummet.
Thanh Hoa Club is proudly leading V-League 2024 - 2025
A series of stars who returned to Vinh Stadium with the dream of bringing their homeland back to the top have all left one by one. In the hands of coach Pham Anh Tuan, the team is now the youngest in V-League 2024 - 2025 with an average age of only 22.1.
Those young men, who were still fresh from their blood, had to try their best to both play and learn from the V-League experience, and bear the terrible pressure of SLNA in the increasingly cold Vinh stadium stands as fans turned their backs after too many unfulfilled promises.
Last season, SLNA only stayed in the league at the last minute thanks to a better goal difference than their rival Ha Tinh. This season, it is not surprising that the Nghe An team continues to play quietly in the bottom group, with 4 points after 4 draws and 2 losses, ranking 12th.
Thanh Hoa Club often scores points when facing big teams like Hanoi Club.
Thanh Hoa Club: Strong golden era
Meanwhile, Thanh Hoa Club strongly took the top spot, in an incomplete joy because they should have created a 2-point gap with the rest, if they had not lost the victory in the last seconds of extra time against Hanoi Club.
Thanh Hoa people do not exaggerate that regret, because although they are the team with the most championship trophies in history with 6 V-League titles, Hanoi Club is used to being defeated or held to a draw by opponents after fierce confrontations, with only 2 wins in the last 7 matches.
The image of Thanh Hoa Club flying high, leading the V-League and the group stage of the Southeast Asian Club Championship (although Rimario has been missing since the beginning of the tournament due to injury) at this time is in complete contrast to the gloomy situation of SLNA, which has played 6 matches without a win.
Coach Popov and Thanh Hoa Club received the best title of the month
This creates a contrasting tone, as the away team Thanh Hoa will come to Vinh Stadium with the goal of taking all 3 points, even having a resounding victory to create momentum for the goal of maintaining the top position until the end of round 9, when the V-League gives way to the Vietnam team to play in the AFF Cup 2024.
Remember, it has been 5 years since SLNA last won against Thanh Hoa Club (1-0 on April 14, 2019), followed by a series of 5/9 losses and 4 draws in V-League.
And don't forget that Thanh Hoa Club is living in the most successful golden era in history after 2 consecutive National Cups and National Super Cups with powerful defeated teams such as Hanoi Club, Nam Dinh...
Will SLNA find its first victory?
In fact, in a difficult situation, Thanh Hoa Club still has its own problems, typically the case of players writing a petition for help because of delayed bonuses and contract signing fees at the beginning of this season.
But the Thanh Hoa Club's leadership has succeeded in retaining coach Popov, finding flexible ways to pay off debts to stabilize the players' psychology, so that the Thanh Hoa ship can move forward strongly again.
At 6 p.m. on November 10, Vinh Stadium will once again witness the Thanh - Nghe derby, where the home team SLNA has not found victory in the V-League against its neighbor Thanh Hoa since 2019.
Although playing away, Thanh Hoa Club will naturally be ranked "on top" in all aspects. Perhaps, the biggest capital for coach Pham Anh Tuan and his team to aim for victory
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