Fierce clash of the top teams in round 5 of V.League 2024-2025

Top battle

After the FIFA Days in October, V.League returned with the remaining 2 matches of round 4, with the 4-1 victory of Thep Xanh Nam Dinh over Song Lam Nghe An and the 1-1 draw between Hanoi FC and Cong An Ha Noi. Also because Hanoi FC only had 1 more point (7), they could not squeeze in between Dong A Thanh Hoa (9 points) and Hoang Anh Gia Lai (8). But the opportunity will come again when entering round 5.

Because in this round, the top 2 teams will directly face each other at Pleiku Stadium. Hoang Anh Gia Lai started the season with 2 consecutive wins and maintained an unbeaten streak with 2 draws after that. Meanwhile, despite starting with a loss at home to Becamex Binh Duong, Thanh Hoa of coach Velizar Popov won 3 consecutive matches to take the top spot.

The team from the Mountain City has only conceded once since the beginning of the season, but after scoring 5 goals in 2 matches, coach Le Quang Trai's players have also slowed down with only 1 goal in the last 2 rounds. There will be more concerns for Gia Lai fans when statistics show that their team has only won 1 of the last 6 matches against Thanh Hoa at Pleiku Stadium.

That was a 2-0 win in July 2022, while in the remaining 5 matches, 3 matches had a draw and Thanh Hoa won 2. Last season was a 1-1 draw, in which the scorer for Hoang Anh Gia Lai was Dinh Thanh Binh - the player who has now transferred to Phu Dong Ninh Binh in the First Division.

When Thanh Hoa won both Quy Nhon Binh Dinh and Cong An Ha Noi, they can aim for 3 points in the Mountain City. But if they return with 1 point, Popov and his students can also be satisfied with continuing to hold the top position.

Intense boxing matches

In case of a draw, Thanh Hoa will lose the top spot if Hong Linh Ha Tinh wins, or Binh Duong, Nam Dinh wins by more than 2 goals, or Hanoi FC wins by more than 3 goals, or The Cong Viettel wins by more than 4 goals. However, it will not be easy for any team, because 4 out of these 5 teams have to... meet each other.

Hong Linh Ha Tinh surprisingly has 8 points when they are the 2 undefeated teams along with Hoang Anh Gia Lai. But this round, the Hong mountain team must go to the capital to meet Hanoi FC. The Central team prepared for this trip with a 4-1 victory at Long An Stadium in the National Cup qualifying round and also held Hanoi FC to a 1-1 draw at Hang Day Stadium last season. If they choose a defensive strategy to gain points against an unstable Hanoi FC, it will not be surprising.

Binh Duong also played away, also went to the capital and played at Hang Day stadium, against The Cong. The reason is that My Dinh stadium has a pre-scheduled event. The team from the land of Thu has Tien Linh leading the list of scorers (4) and has won 2 out of the last 3 times visiting The Cong. So when the military team for the first time no longer has Hoang Duc in the squad, Binh Duong also has a chance to score points.

As they say about saving the best for last, the match between Nam Dinh Steel Blue and Hanoi Police that ended round 5 was very much watched. The defending champions are getting back into the rhythm and although Hanoi Police are struggling to find a goal, the quality of their personnel is enough to make Thien Truong Stadium hot on Monday (October 28).