The highlight match of the National Cup

All four National Cup matches will be played on Sunday (November 23).

At Thien Truong Stadium, the reigning V.League champion - Thep Xanh Nam Dinh (exempted from the qualifying round) will have a relatively easy opening match in the tournament, which is Long An, the team ranked 9th in the First Division this season and defeated Quy Nhon United by a penalty shootout in the National Cup qualifying round.

The 7-match winless streak in V.League is really worrying for Nam Dinh, but the return of key striker Xuan Son in the national team jersey recently can really be considered a great source of inspiration for his teammates to regain their best form.

The fact that they only met a completely “underdog” team like Long An , and had the home field advantage, was a great opportunity for the team from the South to regain the “winning feeling”. On the contrary, when all the parameters were unfavorable, the away team’s goal was to… defend by all means to bring the match to a penalty shootout, similar to what Long An did in the qualifying round. But the chance for them to repeat this is extremely small!

The Hai Phong – Ninh Binh FC match at Lach Tray Stadium promises to be very attractive, and can be considered a highlight of this round. There is no doubt about Ninh Binh FC’s position as a championship candidate when they have had an 11-match unbeaten streak (8 wins, 3 draws) in V.League 1 this season.

Even if we add 20 unbeaten matches in the 2024/25 First Division, Ninh Binh's record will be even more "domineering" with 31 consecutive unbeaten matches in 2 tournaments at 2 different levels.

But Hai Phong is also showing impressive form with a temporary 3rd place in V.League (6 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses), and the team from Hai Phong almost "decoded" Ninh Binh in the first leg of V.League with a 2-2 draw at Lach Tray Stadium.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Lach Tray is a "holy land" for coach Chu Dinh Nghiem and his team this season when they have been unbeaten in 6 matches here with extremely high performance: 5 wins, 1 draw.

Next are the 2 “derby” matches. At Thong Nhat Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City Police (currently ranked 5th in V.League) will of course be rated higher than Ho Chi Minh City – the representative currently ranked 3rd in the First Division – even though Coach Le Huynh Duc’s team cannot use 3 foreign players at the same time like in V.League.

Although there will be some changes in the lineup when facing a lower-ranked team, in general, the quality of CAHCM's lineup is still much higher than that of their city rivals.

HCMC's strategy - under the leadership of former national team captain Nguyen Minh Phuong - will likely be to defend tightly to wait for opportunities or drag the match to a penalty shootout.

The "Hanoi derby" between Hanoi Police (temporarily ranked 2nd in V.League) and The Cong (ranked 4th in V.League) is also very noteworthy, because they both have many stars in their squads.

In terms of form, Hanoi Police are rated slightly higher with an impressive 9-match unbeaten streak (7 wins, 2 draws). One of the past 2 draws was against The Cong, also at Hang Day Stadium.

The return of the national players after the training camp will help ensure the professional quality of this top match. Not only is it worth waiting for the confrontation of the stars, this match is also worth watching with the battle of wits between the two "warriors", coaches Poking and Popov.

The latest match of the round of 16 between PVFCA and Hoang Anh Gia Lai will be held on January 28, 2026.

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/tran-dau-tam-diem-cua-cup-quoc-gia.html