Nam Dinh fans boycotted the home team in the loss to CAHN

Before the match, Nam Dinh ranked fifth in the V-Leauge 2023 with 23 points, five points behind CAHN and the leading team Hanoi FC six points. The team still has a chance to race for the championship when there are four games left to finish the tournament. However, at Thien Truong's home ground, Nam Dinh has eight changes in the starting lineup compared to the last match 0-1 loss to Hanoi FC. The three names that are retained include the trio of strikers Tran Ngoc Son, Douglas Coutinho and Andre Luiz.

However, Nam Dinh played no less than the away team, even opening the score in the 53rd minute. However, the equalizer in the 62nd minute after CAHN's counterattack and the replacement of the well-playing striker Andre Luiz left the field, causing Nam Dinh fans to leave the field. disgruntled, left in droves.

Outside the gate of Stand A, a male fan took off the club's traditional yellow shirt, then lit the shirt on fire. Members of the Nam Dinh Fan Association threw drums on the pitch of stand B and stopped cheering, instead there were shouts of curses at the home team and many strange objects were thrown onto the field.

The culmination was the situation where Ngo Duc Huy let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area in the second minute of compensation, causing Nam Dinh to lose 1-2 backwards, and lead to a backlash. In the Facebook group of the Nam Dinh Fans' Association, which has more than 60,000 members, hundreds of posts have appeared discussing the match, mainly criticizing the team for not playing well. Many people announced that they would stop coming to the stadium to support the club until the end of the 2023 season.

This morning, August 3, about 50 people came to the office of the Nam Dinh Fans' Association at Thien Truong Stadium to return the white away jerseys, which were distributed free of charge. Members of the Executive Committee of the Fans' Union collect all the shirts donated by the club (about 200 pieces) and then return them by placing them in front of the door of the director's office of Nam Dinh Green Steel Football Joint Stock Company. The representative of the Fan Association also confirmed that all activities to support the club at home and away will be stopped until the end of the season.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quan, a member of the Executive Committee of the Nam Dinh Fans' Association, said that fans were extremely upset after the loss to CAHN. The fans burning shirts, throwing drums is not a good action, but it is forced to react to the way the home team plays. Mr. Quan left from the 61st minute, even though he was the most enthusiastic fan, often went around the stands to catch up with the audience and shouted the two words "Nam Dinh".

"The team is invested in buying good players to play fairly, not like yesterday," Mr. Quan said in frustration. "When I got home, my nephew asked me why I put all the substitutes in the game, why is Coutinho playing or pulling out. I don't know how to answer."

Mr. Quan also recalled the event that he and thousands of Nam Dinh fans stood in the stands with their backs to the field to protest against the referee because the club was repeatedly blown wrong in the V-League 2020. "We used to do everything to claim justice. equal to the club", Mr. Quan said. "What the team is doing is not worthy of the support of the fans."

This match CAHN must win, in order to maintain the championship race with Hanoi FC, Viettel or Thanh Hoa.

On the Nam Dinh side, the club said it had to face many injuries before the match. Midfielder Hendrio with ankle ligament edema did not play from the previous round. Goalkeeper Nguyen Manh suffered from elbow tendon pain, midfielders Pham Duc Huy strained his hamstring, Tran Manh Hung suffered a broken knee ligament, and Ho Khac Ngoc stretched his knee ligament. The pair of central defenders Nguyen Huu Tuan and Duong Thanh Hao had a viral fever, so they were not physically fit, so they were only on the bench.

Coach Vu Hong Viet affirmed the spirit of the players to play well and the team to win even without the strongest force. The withdrawal of Coutinho from the field aims to preserve the 1-1 draw and keep the force for the next match against Hai Phong. "I know the fans reacted violently," Viet said. "The player did his best, and I take full responsibility for the defeat."