Ha Noi - Da Nang, the tale of Hien's two children
The success of Ha Noi FC in Vleague and the miserable of Da Nang's youth level
Ha Noi FC kicked off its 2022 season in a turbulent way, for both internal and external reasons. South Korean head coach Park Choong Kyun left just one week before the opening day. The biggest star Nguyen Quang Hai only played one match before moving to Pyrenees mountains’ northern edge to pursue the European dream. Their first three matches were all postponed due to COVID.
Despite being the last team kicking off their campaign, they are now sitting comfortably at first place of Vleague table with a nine-point gap to the 2nd team. Interim Chun Jae Ho rarely gives instruction from the dugout (probably language barrier + his assistants Tien Dung and Duc Tuan have higher pitch voices), but his influence on the playing style as well as the dressing room of Ha Noi FC is undeniable. In terms of transfer, after the disaster named Ivancic and the misfortune with Zec Djuro, who tore his ligament after only 3 matches, they quickly corrected the mistake with 3 quality foreign players, Siladji, Tonci Mujan, and recently Brazilian striker Lucao. The first one is their current top goalscorer while the other two both scored on their debuts.
No matter how much you hate their owner and how much you love the conspiracy of referees favoring them, you can't deny their superior on the pitch this season.
Talking of Hien, in the coastal city more than 700km away from the capital, famous for its beaches that were voted in the top 25 beaches in the world, it is a completely different picture for SHB Da Nang, another child in his spider web of football-business-politic. The “Han river army”, under the guidance of local hero Phan Thanh Hung, is currently ranked 7th on the table which is not too bad with a squad that combines the league’s best local young players and worst foreign players. But the lack of consistency of SHB Da Nang in Vleague is not the most worrying thing for their fans at the moment.
Last weekend a widespread Facebook page has leaked that the U17 Da Nang team is considering withdrawing from the National U17 final tournament, scheduled to be held at the end of this month in Ho Chi Minh City, because of financial reason. It caused a huge upset for the boys who were one of the best performers in the Qualifying round when they topped Group C, which featured Hoang Anh Gia Lai (I don't need to remind you how good Hoang Anh Gia Lai is at the youth level), Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Binh Dinh.
Another source states that their U9 team also canceled plans to go to Dak Lak to attend the National U9 tournament that will start on August 21 for the same reason. Unlike in Ha Noi, Hien and SHB only sponsor the Da Nang team playing in Vleague. In Vietnam, sometimes the owners take over both the senior squad and youth development (like Song Lam Nghe An and Hoang Anh Gia Lai), but most of the time the responsibility of the latter belongs to the city/province’s sports department. Everyone knows that youth development is a long-term game, requiring huge effort with little short-term benefit. The businessmen already got enough trouble in operating the senior squad and do not want to bear the additional burden from junior levels. The city council, as everyone knows, has a limited budget for sports development, and more importantly, it is rarely used in the most optimal way. A popular story in Vietnamese football is repeated here: players become victims in the middle of a dispute over responsibility between entrepreneurs and the state. Obviously, it's impossible to entirely blame either Hien and his 1.6 billion dollar bank or the local council of one of the richest cities in the country for this football failure, but their image in the eyes of Da Nang fans has been significantly declining.
To end this very new newsletter, I want to give you an interesting stat from the league this season. A total of 10 players have scored on their debut so far, and all of them are foreigners. New is always better, I guess.
Olsen
Lucao
Green
Rimario
Abdul Basit
Geovane
Osaguona
Andre Vieira
Mujan
Mansaray