V-League would be boring without a 'half-hearted' surprise team like... HAGL!

Surprise after surprise

9 out of 26 rounds of the 2024-2025 V-League have passed, meaning the teams have completed 1/3 of the tournament. After 1/3 of the route, surprises have appeared. First, the only undefeated team up to this point in the tournament is Ha Tinh, a name that last season had to compete in a play-off match for the right to stay in the league with a representative of the lower league.

Next is the story of Thanh Hoa's current top spot. This is a team that does not have many stars, and is also not in the group of big investment teams like the "big five" V-League including the current champion Nam Dinh, former champions including Hanoi Police Club (CAHN), Hanoi FC, The Cong Viettel and Binh Duong.

Thanh Hoa Club (right) surprisingly leads the table after the first stage of V-League

Another team that created some surprises after the past stage of the tournament was HAGL. However, Mr. Duc's team only brought half-hearted surprises, mainly because their force was quite thin, plus their playing style was quickly identified by other opponents. Compared to Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa, HAGL lacked diversity. The mountain town team still defended quite well when needed to defend, but when needed to attack, HAGL could hardly impose their playing style on their opponents. That caused HAGL to lose all the recent rounds, before the V-League was suspended (until January 2025). They lost because when their opponents did not want to play fast, HAGL could not speed up the match.

However, HAGL's impressive performance in the first few rounds has also helped the players of the mountain town team catch the eye of coach Kim Sang-sik. In the list of the Vietnamese team training in Korea, there are 3 players from HAGL Club, including goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien, along with midfielders Chau Ngoc Quang and Tran Bao Toan. Of these, goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien and midfielder Tran Bao Toan are brand new discoveries in the 2024-2025 V-League.

HAGL Club (middle) also created a surprise.

Tense race to the top of the table

The five teams that were rated the highest before the match were Nam Dinh, Binh Duong, CAHN, Hanoi FC and The Cong Viettel, none of which were able to maintain their top spot until the tournament was suspended. However, most of the above teams were not too far from the top spot: Nam Dinh had 19 points after 9 rounds, ranking second in the table, only 1 point behind the top team Thanh Hoa. The Cong Viettel had 15 points, ranking third.

Meanwhile, CAHN and Hanoi FC each have 14 points, ranking 5th and 6th in the V-League rankings, respectively. Except for Binh Duong, which has only 11 points (ranked 8th, having just experienced 2 consecutive losses), the remaining teams in the "big five" group are still in good to good form. It is not unusual for the big teams to not "warm up" in the early stages of the V-League, and it is not uncommon in national football championships around the world. Strong teams are often the ones with many new players at the beginning of each season. Therefore, these teams often take more time than the rest to help new players get acquainted with old players, and help new players get acquainted with the team's pre-existing tactical system.

Nam Dinh Club (snakes) gradually regains form

For example, Nam Dinh had to play many matches in both the V-League and the Asian Cup to gradually find stability, especially stability on the two wings. It took a long time for To Van Vu and Nguyen Van Vi of Nam Dinh to assert their positions on the right and left wings of Nam Dinh. It was also only after a period of time when these two players played well on the two wings that the overall playing style of Nam Dinh became more smooth.

The same thing happened to CAHN's foreign players. As the season progressed, CAHN's foreign players like Artur De Melo and Alan Alexandre played better and better. That was also the reason why CAHN played better in the later rounds than in the first rounds.

Also because the giants have not played at their best after the first third of the journey, the next stage of the V-League 2024-2025 promises to be even more exciting than what happened before the tournament was suspended. In theory, the stronger teams become more formidable the deeper they go into the tournament. The long run will reveal the best horses, the strongest teams are those who know how to accelerate at the right time. Therefore, from now until the end of the season, the V-League has many more things to look forward to!

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/v-league-se-chan-ngat-neu-khong-co-doi-gay-bat-ngo-nua-voi-nhu-hagl-185241125112758723.htm