HÀ NỘI — All eyes will be on the match between FLC Thanh Hóa and Hải Phòng at the 11th round of V.League 1 at Thanh Hóa Stadium tomorrow.

With eight wins, one draw and one loss, Hải Phòng are leading the rankings with 25 points, while Thanh Hóa are the runner-up with 19 points after 10 matches (six wins, one draw and three losses).

Thanh Hóa’s technical director Lê Thụy Hải said his team needed three points in this match to narrow the gap in the race to the title against Hải Phòng.

Thanh Hóa lost to Sài Gòn FC 1-3 in the 10th round but defeated bottom-placed team Đồng Tháp 4-0 in the extra match of the third round on Wednesday.

According to Thanh Hóa’s training board, Hải Phòng have an equal line-up with skilful foreign footballers but they believe Thanh Hóa will win.

To prepare for the coming match, Hải withdrew several key players in the match with Đồng Tháp such as Đào Văn Phong, Pape Omar Faye and Ngô Hoàng Thịnh to keep their physical strength for the fight with Hải Phòng.

Meanwhile, Hải Phòng left for the central province of Thanh Hóa yesterday with their best formation.

The team are very excited following their 2-0 victory against Sanna Khánh Hòa in the 10th round.

“Thanh Hóa have good players and they are very ambitious. I know they aim to beat us but it’s not easy as our target is to get at least one point in this match,” said Hải Phòng’s coach Trương Việt Hoàng.

In other matches, Sông Lam Nghệ An will meet Đồng Tháp, Bình Dương face Sài Gòn FC and Hà Nội T&T will play Quảng Nam.

Today, several matches of the 11th round will start. Long An play with SHB Đà Nẵng, Sanna Khánh Hòa meet Hoàng Anh Gia Lai and Quảng Ninh Coal fight Cần Thơ.

Answering media before the match kicked off, Quảng Ninh Coal’s coach Phan Thanh Hùng affirmed that his team would take full advantage of the home turf to gain three points in the match with Cần Thơ to improve their ranking.

At present, Quảng Ninh rank seventh with 14 points, while Cần Thơ are fifth with 15 points. — VNS