On November 21, at the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Provincial Gymnasium, the second phase and final round of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship for men will officially open.
Similar to the women's event, the men's event has 9 teams participating including Sanest Khanh Hoa, Bien Phong, The Cong Tan Cang, Ha Tinh, Ninh Binh, Ha Noi, Da Nang, Long An and Vinh Long). Based on the match schedule, some teams will play 3 more matches while some teams have 4 matches left in phase 2.
Closing the first stage, Sanest Khanh Hoa is temporarily leading with 12 points, followed by Border Defense (11 points) and The Cong Tan Cang (10 points). The remaining two teams in the top 5 are Da Nang and LPB Ninh Binh with 6 points each.
It can be seen that, apart from the slightly better performance of Sanest Khanh Hoa and Bien Phong, the general level of the remaining teams is not really too different, so surprises are always ready to happen. No team is really a dark horse that creates attraction like Thanh Hoa in the women's event, but the rest of the tournament still has many promising and attractive clashes.
Up to now, the teams have been well prepared, ready to enter the upcoming matches. The long break from phase 1 to phase 2 has helped the coaches have important data about the home team players as well as the opponents, thereby carefully preparing for the individual goals of the whole team.
Mr. Dao Xuan Chung - Head of Volleyball Department, Department of Sports and Physical Training - said that the organizing committee predicts that phase 2 will have many fierce matches, the audience will have the opportunity to witness many top matches. The score in each match will determine the team's ability to stay in the league. The regulations also stipulate that the results will be calculated based on the head-to-head record, so the competition in phase 2 will be tense.
The attraction of this year's tournament largely depends on the foreign players that the teams bring in. Similar to the first phase, the Hanoi men's team is the only club that does not hire foreign players. The remaining 8 teams have registered a total of 9 foreign players, of which The Cong Tan Cang has added 2 foreign players. The teams have spent quite a lot of money to hire foreign players to improve their skills.
According to the records, unlike the first phase, the foreign players are more diverse. The foreign players come from Brazil (1 player), Thailand (3), Russia (2), Cuba (1), Cambodia (1), Kazakhstan (1). These faces will certainly be key factors in the squad of each team, largely deciding the achievements of the teams in this year's tournament.
The Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV) also coordinated with local authorities to ensure the best quality of the field. At the same time, the Video Eyes Challenge system continued to be installed to ensure the best refereeing and tournament management.
Having learned from the experience of the women's event that saw many surprises, the men's teams are being very cautious before the match. With the leading teams being Sanest Khanh Hoa, Border Guard, The Cong Tan Cang and Da Nang, their goal is certainly to reach the semi-finals.
The above teams need to pay close attention to defense as well as the combination of domestic and foreign players. Surprises can always happen, so just one small mistake can cost the men's teams in the upcoming fiercely competitive second phase.
