Defending champion Nam Dinh raises the white flag?

Three consecutive losses from round 5 to round 7 forced coach Vu Hong Viet to resign, giving way to technical director Nguyen Trung Kien.

Will Van Vi (left) and Nam Dinh Club be able to return to the championship race? - Photo: VPF

"Changing the general to change the fortune" is what Vietnamese football teams often do to hope for a change. But that did not happen to Nam Dinh FC when they had a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home against bottom-of-the-tableSHB Da Nang in round 8.

As a result, from being 10 points behind the top team Ninh Binh after round 7, the gap continued to widen to 12 points. In fact, Nam Dinh Club could have achieved a better result against SHB Da Nang if they had had their full squad.

But the "storm" of injuries and flu made coach Nguyen Trung Kien only able to register 18 players (7 substitutes, including 2 goalkeepers) instead of the required 20. Nam Dinh Club even had to pre-print a player's shirt for goalkeeper Nguyen Manh, so that when there were no substitutes, he could use him to play up front.

In the context of a series of key players Hong Duy, Tuan Anh, Hudlin, Percy Tau, Caio Cesar, Kevin Pham Ba... unable to play, winning 1 point against SHB Da Nang is not a bad thing.

But the opponents did not wait for Nam Dinh FC to recover their strength to compete for the championship, and even accelerated more strongly to create a gap. Therefore, Nam Dinh FC knew that they had to come back as quickly as possible.

On October 31, Nam Dinh FC will meet host Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) - the team that just surprisingly defeated championship candidate The Cong - Viettel 2-1 in round 8. Last year, when Nam Dinh was in high form, they were held to a draw in Pleiku. Now, with a broken squad and declining form, playing against host HAGL is not easy.

If they fail to beat HAGL, Nam Dinh FC may have to raise the white flag early in the championship race. The team’s problem lies not only in its strength or performance, but also in its coach. Replacing coach Vu Hong Viet with Nguyen Trung Kien is only a temporary solution.

For an ambitious and well-invested team like Nam Dinh, Coach Nguyen Trung Kien is not a worthy name. And Mr. Kien does not have a professional coaching license (Pro license) to lead the team.

Choosing another coach, even a foreign coach, is something that must be considered. And so, Nam Dinh players will have to spend more time getting used to the new coach and new tactics. That is the biggest problem for this team in the championship race.

But that is also a matter for the next 1-2 months. The most important thing now is that Nam Dinh Club needs to find victory again to avoid being left too far behind in the championship race.

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NGUYEN KHOI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/duong-kim-vo-dich-nam-dinh-tung-co-trang-20251028230720978.htm