Nguyen Manh retains one point for Nam Dinh
In the 76th minute, when the score was 0-0, Viettel attacked quickly, Duc Chien finished close to the wall very quickly after the horizontal stretch from the right. However, Nguyen Manh reacted very quickly and punched the ball all the way across the border. Duc Chien stood dumbfounded as if he couldn't believe his opponent's block, and then hugged Nguyen Manh to applaud. Thien Truong stands also cheered the name of the home team's captain.
"I can't believe Nguyen Manh could save that situation. The situation was very fast, Duc Chien jumped into the near-city buffer. Nguyen Manh was so excellent. He showed his ability and level more and more," coach Thach Bao Khanh of Viettel praised Nam Dinh's goalkeeper after the match.
On Thien Truong Stadium, Viettel held the ball 54%, launched 12 shots, three times more than Nam Dinh's, but did not defeat Nguyen Manh once.
Viettel dominated more partly thanks to Nam Dinh losing foreign soldier Hendrio. In the 40th minute, this player was injured after a dispute with Duc Chien. After being taken care of by the doctor, he limped into the playing field but two minutes later he continued to collide with Duc Chien and had to leave the field. Without Hendrio, Nam Dinh lost the organizer of the attack in the second half. The substitute player, Thanh Truong, left the only mark that was a broken kick in the 47th minute, when the ball in the middle of the field to quickly counterattack from his teammates gave him the opportunity to face the opponent's goalkeeper.
This match, Viettel has a lineup disturbance. Jaha was injured and could not play, so coach Thach Bao Khanh pulled Hoang Duc to play defensive midfielder. Hoang Duc had to play further away from the opponent's goal, so his ability to organize attacks decreased, leading to Viettel no longer having sharp decisive passes for the strikers to finish.
In addition to Duc Chien's shot, which was blocked by goalkeeper Nguyen Manh, Viettel only had one more really dangerous opportunity in the 61st minute. Jefferson Elios stretched across to give Mohamed Essameldin a chance to head close to the wall when no one was being followed, but the visitors' foreign troops made contact with the ball off-center and went to the sideline.
Draw 0-0, Vietl and Nam Dinh hold each other in the championship race. Viettel fell to fourth with three points worse than Hanoi Police, the team won 1-0 in the match at the same time on Binh Dinh's field. Nam Dinh meanwhile ranked fifth with 23 points.
In the next round on July 27, Viettel received Ha Tinh while Nam Dinh was the guest of defending champion Hanoi.
