Into Top 8 - Nam Dinh Steel Club completes phase 1 goal of V-League 2023

The National Football Championship - Night Wolf 2023 (V-League 2023) starts from February 3 and ends on August 20. According to the tournament format, the 14 participating teams will play a round-robin to calculate points in phase 1 and then split into groups to compete in phase 2. The top 8 teams will compete for the championship, the bottom 6 teams will compete to avoid relegation. The change in competition format, shortening the organization time of V-League 2023 to 5 and a half months (the shortest season in the history of the national professional football tournament) is to prepare for the 2024 season when Vietnamese football switches to a schedule similar to the world's leading football tournaments.

The ball dispute situation between players of Nam Dinh Green Steel and Dong A Thanh Hoa in round 12 of V-League 2023 at Thien Truong Stadium.

In the history of Vietnamese football, Nam Dinh Football Club has a rich tradition and identity, always receiving much attention from the media, experts and a large number of fans nationwide, even though the team has had ups and downs in the V-League. The club's matches always have a large number of fans coming to the stadium to watch and cheer, not only when playing at home at Thien Truong Stadium but also when playing away at the opponent's stadium. V-League 2023 is a special season for Nam Dinh football when the club changes its name to Nam Dinh Green Steel, and at the same time "changes blood" almost all of its personnel from the coaching bench, executive leadership, technical to the players. Head coach Vu Hong Viet said: “The 2023 V-League and National Cup season has many changes in format, competition time with fierceness and high competition, so Nam Dinh Steel Club needs depth and quality personnel. The club's leadership plans to add many new players combined with some old players to increase depth and spirit in this season”. With strong financial resources from sponsor Xuan Thien Group, the club has bought a series of quality rookies such as: Nguyen Manh, Hong Duy, Duc Huy, Hoang Thinh, Thanh Hao, Huu Tuan, Van Khanh, Hendrio... becoming a very worth-watching team in V-League 2023 and receiving many expectations from home football fans. According to the commitment of the team's Board of Directors, the club will improve the players' treatment, pay signing bonuses, ensure salaries, increase bonuses, move accommodation to hotels and invest in renovating training grounds, stadiums, etc. The club's goal in this year's V-League is to be in the top 8 teams after the end of phase 1.

Thanks to the depth of the squad, the Nam Dinh Steel Club had a dream start in the 2023 V-League with the best performance in 5 years since being promoted. The Thanh Nam team was unbeaten in the first 6 rounds when they beat Ho Chi Minh City Club (1-0); beat SHB Da Nang Club (1-0); drew with Hoang Anh Gia Lai Club (2-2); drew with Viettel Club (0-0); drew with Sana Khanh Hoa Club (1-1); beat Song Lam Nghe An Club (1-0). After a series of sublime matches at the beginning of the season, the Nam Dinh Steel Club showed signs of slowing down when they went through a series of 5 matches without a win. Specifically, the Thanh Nam team lost heavily to the Hanoi Police Club with a score of 4-0; drew with Hai Phong Club, Topeland Binh Dinh, Hong Linh Ha Tinh with the same score of 1-1; lost to Hanoi Club with a score of 1-0. Since the beginning of the season, many draws of coach Vu Hong Viet and his team have been seen as no different from losses because the Nam Dinh Steel Club is rated higher because it has many "stars" in the squad, plays somewhat overwhelmingly against its opponents and receives enthusiastic support from a large audience every time it plays at home at Thien Truong Stadium. According to experts and fans, the poor results of the Nam Dinh Steel Club in recent matches are due to the club's lack of cohesion between positions in the squad, the players' fighting spirit is not high, and some foreign players have not met the team's professional requirements and the fans' expectations. During the mid-season transfer period, coach Vu Hong Viet decided to change foreign players. After round 11, the Nam Dinh Steel Club recruited 2 new foreign players, Douglas Coutinho and Andre Luiz, to replace the 2 old foreign players, Dominic Vinicius and Samuel Nnamani, who did not play effectively. In addition, midfielder Trong Dai's contract was also terminated to supplement midfielder To Van Vu on loan from Hanoi Police Club. In the remaining 2 matches (round 12, round 13) of phase 1 of V-League 2023, Nam Dinh Steel Club must win at least 3 points to be in the Top 8, which means an early ticket to stay in the league.

After 12 rounds of V-League 2023, 5 clubs are certain to be in the Top 8 competing for the championship; 4 clubs are certain to have to fight for relegation. Thep Xanh Nam Dinh Club and 4 teams: Hai Phong, Topeland Binh Dinh, Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Song Lam Nghe An are in the middle of the rankings. These are all clubs with rich traditions, attractive to fans and possessing good players in the squad. Head coach Philippe Troussier can even choose a quality squad for the Vietnam national football team from the group of 5 teams mentioned above. Before the end of phase 1 of V-League, in the context that the top 8 of V-League 2023 only have 3 tickets with undetermined owners, there will be 2 "famous" teams having to fight for relegation. In round 13, Nam Dinh Green Steel Club has the most favorable schedule among the 5 teams competing for the top 8 when they only have to face Becamex Binh Duong Club, which has not won any matches since the beginning of the season and is currently second to last on the rankings with only 7 points. Before this match took place, Nam Dinh Green Steel Club decided to give free tickets to fans who came to Go Dau Stadium (Binh Duong) to cheer for coach Vu Hong Viet and his team. Thanh Nam team needs at least 1 more point to be in the top 8. In terms of strength, Nam Dinh Green Steel Club is rated higher than the home team. In the first 30 minutes of the match, Nam Dinh players made the home team have to pick the ball out of the net 3 times with goals from Tran Ngoc Son, Andre Luiz and To Van Vu. The Thu Dau Mot team tried to turn the game around but failed and had to accept a final defeat with a score of 2-3 against Nam Dinh Green Steel Club. With 3 valuable points, Nam Dinh Green Steel Club has officially entered the Top 8 (ranked 7th) with 19 points, while Becamex Binh Duong Club fell into crisis when hitting rock bottom (ranked 14th) on the rankings.

Having secured a place in the championship group, the next opponents of the Nam Dinh Steel Club in the 7 rounds of phase 2 of the 2023 V-League are all strong teams: meeting Dong A Thanh Hoa Club (round 1); meeting Viettel Club (round 2); meeting Hanoi Club (round 3); meeting Hanoi Police Club (round 4); meeting Hai Phong Club (round 5); meeting Topenland Binh Dinh Club (round 6); meeting Hong Linh Ha Tinh Club (round 7). The remaining 7 matches of the season are all huge challenges that coach Vu Hong Viet and his team must face; in which 3/7 matches will be played at Thien Truong home ground. Changes in expertise and personnel have created a positive effect on the playing style, improving the team's fighting spirit. In particular, the enthusiastic support of a large number of Nam Dinh fans will add spiritual strength for the players to achieve the best results not only in the V-League arena but also in the 2023 National Cup arena./.

Article and photos: Khanh Dung

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