Viettel Sports and Hanoi Police start to get into gear
More than 10 days before the Lunar New Year holiday, the 2024-2025 V.League rankings saw Thanh Hoa and Nam Dinh sharing the top two positions.
However, if we look at the match fund and the relative scores between these two clubs and the teams behind, the championship race in the next rounds promises many unexpected changes.
The Cong Viettel is a club that can make a big difference in the race for the championship. Two consecutive victories against Song Lam Nghe An and Nam Dinh give the army team a big advantage to close in on the number 1 position.
Coach Nguyen Duc Thang's team currently has 18 points, 4 points behind the top team Thanh Hoa but has played 1 less match. The Cong Viettel is also only 3 points behind Nam Dinh but still has 2 matches left to play. This means that if they make the most of the matches, Tien Dung and his teammates will definitely rise to 2nd place.
Hanoi Police Club can also completely enter the top 3. The former V.League champion's performance has been very impressive since the end of November 2024 until now.
After 6 matches on all fronts, coach Mano Polking's students won 5 matches and drew 1 match. Of which, they won tickets to the semi-finals of the Southeast Asian Cup 1 and the quarter-finals of the National Cup 2024-2025.
In V.League, Hanoi Police is ranked 7th with 15 points. But with 1 to 2 fewer matches than its opponents, the capital team promises to improve its ranking, even having the right to think about the top 3 after the first leg of V.League ends.
Hanoi Club is still unstable
Another representative of the capital, Hanoi FC, is ranked 4th on the rankings after 11 matches. This position is not bad, but the way they fluctuate through each round makes fans worried.
Contrary to the image of a Hanoi FC that won every match a few years ago, the capital team is now very fragile and can lose to any opponent. In addition to the shocking defeat against Dong Thap - an average team in the First Division at the National Cup, Van Quyet and his teammates also just lost to Hoang Anh Gia Lai at home for the first time in 13 years.
The fluctuating performance of Hanoi FC has made many people doubt their ability to compete for the championship in V.League. Many problems still exist, Van Quyet and Hung Dung are on the other side of the career slope, Duy Manh, Hai Long or Tuan Hai are not good enough to carry the team. Meanwhile, Hanoi's foreign players have not met the professional requirements, both in attack and defense.
Criticism is being directed at coach Le Duc Tuan for not being able to create a perfect Hanoi like his predecessors did in the past.
It should be added that after the defeat against Hoang Anh Gia Lai, a member of the Hanoi team said: "With this loss, the Hanoi club may not have a Tet holiday yet." That statement is enough to show the pressure, challenges and difficulties surrounding the capital team - a symbol of victory at the time in the V.League.
