V-League: The power of teams with no goals and transparency

Binh Duong Club has continuously rotated its squad over the past few rounds.

Photo: Minh Tu

V-League continuously appears unexpectedly

V-League has recorded many surprising results towards the end. In round 21, Binh Dinh FC defeated HAGL 2-1, reviving their hope of staying in the league. Notably, this was the second victory in the last 3 matches, helping the second-to-last team significantly narrow the gap with the rest.

Previously, after 4 wins and 1 draw in 6 matches, Hai Phong FC unexpectedly stopped at Pleiku Arena with a late goal that helped HAGL get 3 important points to open the door to relegation. The bottom team Da Nang, in a desperate situation, also won a shocking victory over Thanh Hoa FC in round 20.

With 19 points, Binh Dinh Club is only 1 and 2 points behind the two teams above, SLNA (20 points) and Quang Nam (21 points). This makes the relegation race, which was thought to be settled, suddenly become extremely hot, more than the championship race with the huge advantage of Nam Dinh Club.

Hai Phong Club (white) meets HAGL Club in round 20

Photo: Minh Tran

In theory, the rise of the martial arts team will affect half of the V-League teams, in addition to the "red lantern" group Da Nang, Nam Dinh, SLNA and Quang Nam, there are also HAGL (24 points), Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Hai Phong (25 points).

But in reality, according to the coaches' reference, the calculations show that the relegation milestone is 27 points, which means that teams like Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Hai Phong will only need 2 points (with HAGL needing 3 points) in the remaining 5 matches to soon reach the safe finish line.

In addition, V-League teams that have run out of championship goals such as Ha Tinh (34 points), Hanoi Police (CAHN, 32 points), Thanh Hoa (30 points) have almost run out of motivation to strive, in the situation of having reached the relegation target early.

Keeping V-League transparent

The team at the bottom of the table, Da Nang, after getting 3 points against Thanh Hoa Club in round 20, will face Quang Nam, HAGL and Ha Tinh Clubs in rounds 23, 24, 25 before meeting SLNA in round 26.

Thanh Hoa Club's performance has been up and down since parting ways with coach Popov.

Photo: Minh Tu

In addition to Coach Popov's The Cong Viettel, the second-to-last team Binh Dinh will meet Thanh Hoa, CAHN, and Ho Chi Minh City clubs in rounds 23, 24, and 25 before meeting Hanoi Club, which is unlikely to have any motivation in the championship race in round 26.

The above teams do not appear in the spotlight, but their motivation will greatly determine the relegation race in the last 5 rounds.

In the final rounds, the bottom-ranked team Da Nang, after getting 3 points against Thanh Hoa Club in round 20, will face Quang Nam, HAGL and Ha Tinh Clubs in rounds 23, 24, 25 before meeting SLNA in round 26.

In addition to The Cong Viettel of Popov Club, the second-to-last team Binh Dinh will meet Thanh Hoa Club, CAHN, TP.HCM in rounds 23, 24, 25 before meeting Hanoi Club, which is unlikely to have any motivation in the championship race in round 26.

HAGL with 10 men lost to Binh Dinh Club (white) 1-2

Photo: Binh Dinh Club

SLNA Club will meet Ha Tinh Club, HAGL, Da Nang in rounds 23, 25 and 26 while Quang Nam Club will meet Binh Duong Club, Da Nang, Ha Tinh and HAGL in the last 5 rounds (interspersed with Nam Dinh Club in round 25).

Objectively, there are clubs in the group that have run out of goals and have taken advantage of the final rounds to rotate their squad, giving opportunities to players who have played less, are young and inexperienced, or have just returned from injury to prepare for the next season, so the ups and downs in performance are understandable.

But recently, public opinion has questioned the unexpected results that were considered "predicted", implying three-way or four-way alliances for football teams to indirectly rescue each other.

Of course, those rumors will need evidence to prove it. But in addition to hiring foreign referees, the V-League Organizing Committee and VPF will need to coordinate with the authorities to closely monitor the last 5 rounds, to avoid affecting the image of Vietnamese football.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/v-league-quyen-luc-cua-nhung-doi-het-muc-tieu-va-su-minh-bach-185250506213717188.htm