Round 9 of the V-League: Ninh Bình loses steam, Hải Phòng causes a sensation

With no star players on their team, Hải Phòng is impressively climbing into the top three positions.

Hải Phòng club staged an emotional comeback to reach the top 3 in the standings. At the top, Ninh Bình reclaimed first place, but the lead is fragile after only drawing in a match where they needed a win against Becamex TP.HCM.

Hải Phòng has made an impressive surge in recent rounds to temporarily secure third place in the standings. In Round 9 at Thống Nhất Stadium, Công an TP.HCM scored early in the 11th minute through Quốc Cường. However, the home team couldn’t hold on for the rest of the match, allowing Hải Phòng to come back and win 2-1 with second-half goals by Friday and Tagueu.

This marks the third consecutive win for coach Chu Đình Nghiêm’s team, including two comebacks after conceding first. These successive victories have temporarily placed the port city team in third place. Meanwhile, Công an TP.HCM has struggled recently (one draw, two losses) and is falling further behind in the race for the top spots.

Hosting Becamex TP.HCM, Ninh Bình aimed for a win to regain the top spot and accumulate maximum points to ease the mounting pressure from CAHN club (ranked just behind with the same 20 points but one game less). Against Becamex TP.HCM, Hoàng Đức and his teammates seemed to have every advantage for victory, from form to home ground. Early in the match, at the 16th minute, Hoàng Đức scored the opening goal, setting the stage for a possible win.

However, that was the only goal for the home team in a match they needed to win. In the second half, Becamex TP.HCM equalized in the 76th minute through Ugochukwu, leveling the score at 1-1. Ninh Bình’s efforts afterward failed to break through the very organized defense of the visitors. With the draw, Ninh Bình reached 21 points and temporarily reclaimed first place from CAHN (21 points vs. 20 points). However, CAHN still has one match in hand, posing a threat to Ninh Bình’s top spot and an opportunity for CAHN to surge ahead.

In a match between lower-ranked teams, SHB Đà Nẵng and SLNA drew 1-1. The visitors scored in the 80th minute, but the home side equalized at the 90+5 minute mark. This draw prevents both teams from climbing the standings and intensifies the battle at the bottom, where five teams are tied on 7 points, only 1-2 points behind the teams ranked 8th and 9th.