HAGL knows how to stay in the league while making the championship race 'breathless'

Mountain town football team contributes to deciding the fate of the entire V-League

HAGL's 2-1 victory over The Cong Viettel Club in the 22nd round of the V-League on May 11 almost extinguished the little remaining hope of the team under coach Velizar Popov in the race for the championship. After the 1-2 loss to HAGL, The Cong Viettel had 36 points, 9 points behind the top team Nam Dinh, while the tournament had only 4 more rounds to end.

HAGL plays best when they are attacking.

Photo: HAGL FC

As for HAGL, the mountain town team itself is no longer able to compete for titles this season, but as mentioned, HAGL is capable of influencing the race to the top of the V-League, as long as they have faith that they can do it. And with what just happened, it can be seen that faith has returned to the mountain town team.

Once HAGL players believe in their own abilities, they are not weak. In fact, HAGL's force is quite good in V-League. Except for the group of giants including CAHN Club, Hanoi FC, The Cong Viettel and the current champion Nam Dinh, there are not many teams that own as many national players, former national players, U.23 players and former U.23 national players as HAGL: Chau Ngoc Quang, Tran Bao Toan, Pham Ly Duc, Tran Trung Kien, Tran Minh Vuong, Dung Quang Nho... In addition, HAGL's 3 foreign players including center back Jairo, midfielder Marciel and striker Washington Brandao are not too bad. In terms of foreign players, HAGL is still more balanced than many other teams in V-League.

HAGL finds its own image again

The problem with HAGL players since the beginning of the season is that they lack confidence. The team's overly perfectionist style of play at the beginning of the season sometimes causes HAGL players to lose confidence in themselves, as well as their morale. The more they play defensively, sometimes even defensively and negatively, the more they develop the mentality that they are inferior, even though that is not the case.

Dung Quang Nho's goal against The Cong Viettel shows the confidence of HAGL players.

Photo: Minh Tran

Now, when HAGL realizes that they were wrong in playing such a negative style of play. When HAGL realizes that they want to win all 3 points in some matches, they have to play proactively, instead of just defending passively and waiting for opportunities in counter-attacks, HAGL shows a completely different face, before they get completely different results.

For example, in the match against The Cong Viettel on the afternoon of May 12, in the situation where HAGL scored the winning goal 2-1, Dung Quang Nho confidently dribbled the ball from his team's penalty area and ran straight into the opponent's penalty area. After a few moves of coordination with his teammates, it was Dung Quang Nho who scored a very gentle goal, as if he were an attacking player, not a defensive player.

HAGL playing with confidence in attack is the image that people expect from this team. For more than 20 years, when mentioning HAGL, from the time when Kiatisak, Van Sy Hung, Nguyen Huu Dang, Nguyen Phi Hung were still players, to the period when Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong, Minh Vuong... matured and shone, HAGL has always been full of attacking spirit. The mountain town team has never been a team good at playing defense, so only when returning to their strong attacking style, HAGL makes opponents wary when facing them!

In the 23rd round match, HAGL will be the guest at Thien Truong Stadium. The home team Nam Dinh is currently at the top of the V-League rankings and is playing very well. But who knows, HAGL might still create a surprise. The race for the V-League championship is therefore becoming more intense. Because if HAGL gets 3 points at the fire pit, Nam Dinh will be gradually caught up by the opponent behind, Hanoi. Of course, there are conditions, Hanoi is not allowed to stumble in the 23rd round, against the team of Ho Chi Minh City.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hagl-vua-biet-cach-tru-hang-lai-vua-khien-cuoc-dua-vo-dich-tro-nen-kho-tho-185250512125841653.htm