Asian ambitions and the price Nam Dinh Club has to pay

In three consecutive matches in the domestic arena, Nam Dinh Club has not won and has not scored a single goal.

Nam Dinh Club is depending on the scoring inspiration of foreign players - Photo: NGOC LE

The 0-2 defeat against Cong An Ha Noi on the evening of September 28 in round 5 of V-League 2025 - 2026 was the third consecutive match in the domestic arena that Nam Dinh Club did not have a win. In the previous two matches, including the early matches of round 6 (against Cong An TP.HCM) and round 4 (against Ninh Binh), Nam Dinh drew 0-0 and lost 0-2, respectively.

Decline in domestic league

When the defense continuously conceded goals, the offense could not score to compensate and correct the mistakes. Those are alarming results for the goal of defending the championship title this season of Nam Dinh Club.

As head coach, Mr. Vu Hong Viet is the person with the highest responsibility for the performance of Nam Dinh Club. In fact, this strategist has done the best he can, constantly rotating domestic and foreign players to balance the team's performance in 3 arenas.

In AFC Champions League Two, Nam Dinh focused all their foreign resources on competing with continental opponents. In the match against Ratchaburi, the team from Nam Dinh fielded a starting lineup with 10 foreign players and won 3-1.

In the ASEAN Club Championship, coach Vu Hong Viet reduced the number of foreign players by 3 to add the corresponding number of domestic players. That was the match against Svay Rieng, Nam Dinh played with 7 foreign players and won 2-1.

Returning to the V-League, Mr. Viet applied the VPF's regulations on the number of foreign players, allowing only 3 foreign players to play on the field. This is the crux of the problem. When lacking foreign players, combined with Nam Dinh's domestic players not being good enough, the team cannot have the desired results in the V-League.

It is also necessary to seriously review the transfer strategy of Nam Dinh FC's leadership. Before this season, they focused too much on recruiting foreign players to prepare for the international stage without bringing in any truly classy domestic players.

Nam Dinh Club's domestic players are all only at an average level, with little ability to make a difference - Photo: NGOC LE

Brink of crisis

Looking at the remaining championship candidates such as Hanoi Police, The Cong - Viettel or even the "new phenomenon" Ninh Binh Club, all of these clubs have invested in a balanced manner.

Their squads all have at least one domestic player of outstanding quality. For Hanoi Police it is Nguyen Quang Hai, for Ninh Binh it is Nguyen Hoang Duc. These are all names that have the ability to turn the game around and they have all shone at least 3 times since the beginning of the season.

That is the type of factor that Nam Dinh does not have. Looking back at the domestic players in the attack and midfield, in the hands of Mr. Vu Hong Viet, they are all just average names such as A Mit, Lam Ti Phong, Ly Cong Hoang Anh, To Van Vu, Tran Van Dat, Tran Ngoc Son.

Nam Dinh's national players are either past their peak or have lost their form, such as Nguyen Tuan Anh, Nguyen Phong Hong Duy or Nguyen Van Vi. These expected names have not had many breakthrough performances since the beginning of the season.

We also need to sympathize with Nam Dinh when the injury problem has not left this team alone since last year with key players like Nguyen Xuan Son and Nguyen Van Toan.

Furthermore, Nam Dinh cannot avoid the immutable rule of clubs participating in many arenas both in the world and in Vietnamese football in the past. That is the decline in physical strength and performance when having to work hard in the midst of a dense competition schedule.

"Nam Dinh Club's match schedule is very tight. After each match, the players only have two days to recover and prepare for the next match. Each match with a different lineup is also a difficulty for the whole team," said Mr. Vu Hong Viet.

How to avoid an imminent crisis? This is not an easy question to answer for Nam Dinh FC.

If betting on the Asian Cup, Southeast Asia, the price Nam Dinh has to pay in the domestic tournament will be extremely high. The truth is that they are no longer in a monopoly position in the V-League 2025 - 2026 when the tournament has a series of other forces rising strongly.

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NGOC LE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tham-vong-chau-a-va-cai-gia-phai-tra-cua-clb-nam-dinh-20250929100935353.htm