Nam Dinh Club was expected to create an advantage when meeting the lower-ranked team Ho Chi Minh City at Thien Truong Stadium in the context that the away team was missing both number 1 goalkeeper Patrik Le Giang and number 2 goalkeeper Van Tien. However, Ho Chi Minh City was the team that opened the score after successfully taking advantage of the home team's mistake, and the subsequent efforts of Nam Dinh Steel only helped them get an equalizer thanks to Romulo.

As for The Cong Viettel, they took the lead twice on Ha Tinh's field, but could only leave with 1 point, when Hong Linh Ha Tinh stubbornly chased until the last minute to end the match in a 2-2 draw. Then it was Ha Noi FC's turn to share points with Hai Phong with a score of 0-0. This caused the capital team to miss the opportunity to narrow the gap with Nam Dinh.

The team that benefited in this round was Hanoi Police. They won against Hoang Anh Gia Lai to rise to 4th place.

After round 18, Nam Dinh is still leading with 35 points, followed by Hanoi FC (31 points), The Cong Viettel (30 points) and Hanoi Police (4th) with 28 points. This means that the championship race will have one more candidate, and if they maintain their current form, Hanoi Police can completely think about the possibility of ending the season in one of the top 3 positions.

Coach Polking said: “This is a very important victory, affecting the atmosphere in the locker room. This is the second match that Hanoi Police have come from behind. One more thing that can be seen is that we are a team that never gives up. We always aim for the best final result”. “I am a person who likes pressure and challenges. But whether I stay or go is not in my power to decide. I will try to continue one match at a time”, Mr. Polking added.

Coach Vu Hong Viet commented: “I feel very sorry to draw at home. This result slightly affects the championship race when we missed the opportunity to break away. We created many scoring opportunities from the ball coordination, but the strikers were unlucky in the final stage.

This is an issue that needs to be improved. In the remaining matches, our opponents are not weak. Having reached this stage, each team will play with their own purpose, playing for themselves. The leading teams are determined to gain more points to compete for the championship. Similarly, the teams at the bottom want to escape relegation. Nam Dinh Club needs to focus, solve each match one by one to achieve the goal of this season."

This is the stage where the championship race is becoming more attractive. Looking at this situation, anything can happen in the next rounds. Midfielder Hung Dung of Hanoi FC shared: “The whole team tried very hard so it feels regretful that we did not win. We created many opportunities but could not take advantage of them. That is football, but the whole team tried their best. Currently, Hanoi FC, Nam Dinh, The Cong Viettel and Cong An Hanoi are all in the championship race. This will be a very tense championship race”.

Hanoi FC is still 4 points behind the top team, the capital team needs to make the most of the remaining matches to win absolute points. Coach Makoto Neguramori of Hanoi FC said: "In the race, we saw the defending champion Nam Dinh at the top of the rankings. We will focus on accumulating points to narrow the gap with Nam Dinh.

I am looking forward to the head-to-head match and I believe we can win. Not long ago, Hanoi FC was 10 points ahead of Nam Dinh. Now we have a chance but we will have to try until the last match.

Round 19 this weekend promises to see further changes in the leading group as the candidates all face tough opponents.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/cuoc-dua-vo-dich-v-league-hap-dan-hon-i765164/