Football

HÀ NỘI — A place in the top five of the V.League 1 is the goal for Sông Lam Nghệ An (SLNA) if they beat Nam Định today.

The game will be held at the Thiên Trường Stadium in the northern province of Nam Định.

SLNA have had five wins in a row and currently sit in sixth position with 23 points. They beat Hải Phòng 3-2 in their last match at the Lạch Tray Stadium.

Meanwhile, Nam Định’s form is not as good. They are at 13th place out of 14 teams with just 16 points.

However, Nam Định did have an impressive win recently beating former champions SHB Đà Nẵng 4 – 2 to lift them from the foot of the table, their best result since promotion.

The last time Nam Định competed in Việt nam’s top-tier football competition was seven years ago under the name of Megastar Nam Định. At that time, Nam Định and SLNA remained the only two teams to be present in all V-League seasons since 2000.

In their last seven match-ups, SLNA had four wins, while Nam Định won three.

“The gap between Nam Định and teams ranking at ninth and 10^th place is not much. We have to try our best in every game to avoid relegation. Especially in our home games,” said coach Nguyễn Văn Sỹ of Nam Định.

The hosts Nam Định have signed acontract with Brazilian striker Diogo Junior Pereira, who played for Vietnamese club Bình Dương and SHB Đà Nẵng, in the hope of getting the goals needed to stay in the division.

However, the biggest hope of Nam Định is midfielder Lê Sỹ Minh who won the best player award of June of the V.League by goal.com. Minh scored three goals and had four assists last month.

While, SLNA have also signed contract with Jamaican forward Jeremie Dwayne Lynch, who played for Portmore United and scored 10 goals in 30 appearances.

Elsewhere, Đà Nẵng meet Hải Phòng, Sài Gòn face Thanh Hóa, defending champions Quảng Nam take on Bình Dương and Hoàng Anh Gia Lai fight Khánh Hòa. — VNS