Vietnamese national team midfielder believes Hanoi can still compete for the championship

Even though the distance to the top remains significant, Hai Long thinks Hanoi FC still has chances if they know how to gather points.

Hanoi Club secured a convincing 3-0 victory over SLNA in the match of round 16 of V.League held on March 13 evening. After a rather stalemate first half, the balance was broken only at minute 68 when newcomer David Fisher scored the opening goal for the home team.

Just 4 minutes after the breakthrough goal, Hai Long doubled the lead with a precise finishing shot. At minute 90, Van Quyet successfully executed a penalty, sealing a 3-0 win for the purple-shirted team. This result helps Hanoi FC consolidate its 4th position on the ranking table with 28 points. However, the Capital's team still trails the top-ranked CAHN FC by 8 points and has played two more matches than this opponent.

Despite the considerable gap with the leading group, Hai Long expressed determination along with the whole team to continue chasing in the championship race. He shared: "My feeling, as well as the whole team today, is very happy because we gained another 3 points to continue the championship race. We have our own goals and the entire team is striving to play each match and earn maximum points to aim for the highest possible position."

The midfielder of Hanoi FC also admitted that the team needs to accumulate points through each match to maintain hope: "On the ranking table at this moment, Hanoi Club is quite far behind the opponents above. I think we need to accumulate each point and each victory will help us keep hope. After that, there will be a break and we will need to always maintain focus, because ahead is still a very long journey."

Besides, Hai Long also highly evaluated the impact of coach Harry Kewell and explained why Hanoi struggled for over an hour playing against SLNA: "I think there are many reasons. Firstly, it could be because SLNA defended quite tightly at home, we couldn't penetrate.

And partly also because after the previous match, the physical condition of Hanoi players today I think was not at 100%. But fortunately, in the second half we persisted with our playing style and achieved victory as a gift for the fans."

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