Consecutive injuries
On March 30, before the quarter-final match of the 2024-2025 National Cup, a member of Hoang Anh Gia Lai club recorded a very bad image of the My Dinh Stadium. Many patches of dead grass appear interspersed, forming a flat, uneven yard. In some areas of the court, there was even just sand and dirt.
The media has reflected a lot about the degradation quality of My Dinh yard. Even so, the match between Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Viettel in the quarterfinals of the National Cup still took place according to the schedule. Closing the match, two players of the Nui Pho team, Pham Ly Duc and Vo Dinh Lam, were injured.
At that time, in the press conference, coach Le Quang Trai of Hoang Anh Gia Lai frankly said: "Ly Duc and Dinh Lam were both injured due to bad pitch. Dinh Lam suffered from mild pain, but for Duc, the doctors reported a serious injury to the left knee. He just blocked the ball normally but the strong impact on the pitch left him seriously injured."
Doctor Dong Xuan Lam continued: "My Dinh's surface is too ugly.
Finally, the young Vietnamese national team player had to take a 5-week break and was lucky enough to be present in the Vietnam national team training session in June.
Need to prevent danger
A week later, on April 6, The Cong Viettel welcomed Quang Nam at My Dinh Stadium in round 17 of V.League. 3 days before, Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company sent an inspection team to assess the quality of the field surface and continued to let the army team compete at home.
But once again, Vu Tien Long - a 23-year-old player - was injured more seriously than Ly Duc and had to leave the field on a stretcher from the 37th minute. The player from Thanh Hoa completely lost the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
"I was seriously injured without colliding with anyone. When I rushed up to play with the ball, my left foot was exposed to the rough, uneven ground, so it was distorted. When the knee area was skewed, I felt that something was not right," Tien Long shared.
"The My Dinh Stadium surface is too patchwork, the grass is 3-4cm thick, the players are very afraid of injury. I even thought that I should lose to prepare for the next match because I was very afraid that the player would get injured. My Dinh Stadium cannot guarantee a match in the V.League", coach Van Sy Son emphasized.
In the future, The Cong Viettel club will not be allowed to use My Dinh Stadium in 2 matches of rounds 20 and 21 of V.League (taking place on April 26 and May 2). The reason is that the stadium will host art events and music festivals. It is expected that the army team will return to their home field in round 24 to welcome Hai Phong.
Obviously, after "mingling" to organize music events, My Dinh's grass has gotten worse. With such degraded quality, My Dinh is no different from a "trap" for the players.
Remember, the forces of The Cong Viettel and Hai Phong in the upcoming match will gather a number of national players such as Tien Anh, Tien Dung, Viet Hung, Van Khang... And in early June, the Vietnam team will focus on competing in the 3rd qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup on Malaysia's field.
If the Vietnamese national team players are injured because of My Dinh Stadium, things will be even worse.
It is known that before The Cong Viettel returns to My Dinh Stadium, VPF will re-evaluate the quality of the grass. This time, fans need a strict approach from VPF and the tournament organizing committee, to avoid making My Dinh Stadium a "trap" lurking around Vietnamese players.
A member of the V.League organizing committee said: "The organizing committee has continuously warned, suggested, and coordinated with the match organizing committee to improve the quality of the field. We have also done this with Quy Nhon Binh Dinh or Hong Linh Ha Tinh clubs.
Currently, we are continuing to closely monitor and urge the match organizers and The Cong Viettel club to further improve the quality of the field.
After the next two matches in rounds 20 and 21, The Cong Viettel had to borrow another stadium due to My Dinh Stadium being involved in an incident. Before round 24 takes place on May 24, the tournament organizers will re-evaluate the quality of My Dinh Stadium.
If the maintenance and upgrading plan for the stadium is not guaranteed, the tournament organizing committee will take stronger and more drastic actions to ensure the professional quality of the matches".
