July 19, 2022
Round 8 in the Vietnam V.League 1 saw a meeting between two sides already featured in these diaries this season.
Hosts Nam Dinh are the best supported side in Vietnam and their supporters generate by far the best atmosphere at their matches, but the club have had little success, so are perhaps a bit like the Vietnamese equivalent of Newcastle United, and they went into this round of fixtures second from bottom with a 0-3-3 record. These diaries recently covered their 1-1 draw at home to Ha Noi.
Nam Dinh’s three overseas players are all Brazilian, namely striker Rodrigo Dias, in his second season with the club, plus centre-back Allison and striker/attacking midfielder Marcio Marques, who signed after two prolific seasons with Nagaworld in Cambodia’s C-League. With his dyed yellow moustache he certainly has a distinctive appearance, and although scoring with a smart strike against Ha Noi, he blotted his copy book by missing a penalty and an open goal against Becamex Binh Duong. He has though, scored two of his team’s only four goals this season, but was relegated to the bench for the start of today's match. Uganda midfielder Geoffrey Kizito ( 39 caps ) is a naturalised Vietnamese citizen, so doesn’t count as a foreigner.
In comparison, Viettel are the most successful side in the history of Vietnamese football and entered the day in fifth position, three points from the leaders Song Lam Nghe An. These diaries covered their last outing, a 2-1 win at then league leaders Hai Phong. Ex-Uzbekistan international Jahongir Abdumominov, who qualifies by virtue of being an Asian player outside of the three foreigner cap, was their match winner in that game.
Other key players for Viettel are Brazilian forwards Paulo Pedro and Geovane Magno, whilst international Nguyen Hoang Duc is their play-maker in midfield. Striker Nanh Dung Nham had looked highly effective when appearing from the bench, but wasn’t in the match-day squad for this game.
The match was streamed live on the Next Sport channel on YouTube, attracting over 375,000 views, and Bet365 made Viettel favourites at 17/20, with Nam Dimh at 14/5 and the draw at 21/10. Temperature at the 18.00 local time kick-off was around 33 degrees.
Viettel made two changes from their victorious starting line-up against Hai Phong, with Hoang Minh Nguyen and Ngoc San Tran coming in to the line-up.
The first half was a very even affair, with chances at a premium, and the best opportunity fell to Viettel in the 12th minute. Nguyen Hoang Duc skilfully chipped left-footed over the square defence for Troung to run onto, and although the midfielder was able to stretch and bring the ball down, keeper Tu came off his line to clear before Trong could fully bring under control. The loose ball went Pedro, who pushed the ball past keeper Tu but then collapsed to the ground as Hoang went to attempt a challenge, but clearly made no contact with the Brazilian. With the referee allowing play to continue, Tran went for goal, but keeper Tu had in the meantime been able to recover his positioning and made a straightforward save.
Apart from that, both sides’ attacks were toothless, with Nam Dinh demonstrating why they had only scored 4 goals all season, as Alisson’s 30+ yard effort was more likely to damage the advertising hoardings rather than the keeper’s hands.
In a bid to increase their potency, Nam Dinh brought Marques off the bench at the interval, but the first chance of the second half came Viettel’s way in the 55th minute. Tran sent a dangerous cross from the left wing but Magno ran past the ball, and had to resort to a spectacular overhead/reverse bicycle kick, which sailed harmlessly wide.
Viettel continued to look the most likely side to break the dead-lock, but although Truong was able to lift the ball over his marker on the left side of the penalty area, his shot on goal was pushed wide after pressure from Alisson.
Almost predictably in a game like this, the winning goal was an own goal. With 69 minutes played, Marques made a surging run down the right wing. His low cross was heading in the direction of Dias for a simple tap-in, but Bing Nguyen Thanh’s stretched attempt to intercept only succeeded in diverting the ball into his own net, giving his keeper no chance !
Viettel pilled on the pressure in search of an equaliser. Troung was played into a decent position on the left side but a poor first touch forced him inside onto his right foot, and he was only able to shoot high over the bar from 10 yards. With three minutes remaining, a Hail Mary long ball out of defence was superbly controlled by Magno inside the Nam Dinh penalty area, but with the goal at his mercy, he shot weakly at keeper Tu and the rebound was scrambled to safety.
A minute later, a fabulous cross from Duong Van Hao on the left found substitute Tran Dinh Trung unmarked 8 yards out but his attempted glancing header was pushed wide of the upright when he should have at least hit the target. Then, in added on time, another excellent cross, this time from the right wing by Bui, saw Abdumominov dive and steer over the bar with his outstretched foot from 6 yards.
After this Nam Dinh managed to hang onto their first victory
of the season without any further alarums but their lack of goals suggests they
will continue to struggle near the foot of the table. Similarly, Viettel have
recently lost two games in which they have dominated but failed to convert the
chances they have created, and such profligacy in front of goal could prove to
be fatal for their title aspirations, as they slipped to 7th in the table.
Nam Dinh : HV Tu – DV Tu, Alisson, PM Hung, XT Hoang – ND Manh ( HL Nguyen ), Kizito, NH Dinh ( DS Nguyen ), X.Mai, - Dias, MH Tran ( Marques )
Viettel FC: MT Nguyen – DT Bui, CTH Hung, BN Thanh, HM Nguyen ( TD Trung ) - Abdumominov, NH Duc, , TA Truong ( DV Hao ) – Pedro, Magno, NS Tran ( NK Kien )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHsGZt7-2b4
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