Hoang Anh Gia Lai have lost its chance of the football V-League championship title after failing to be one of top three teams this season.

Celebration: Hoang Anh Gia Lai players celebrate after scoring during a V-League football match. The seven-placed team will want to improve its ranking when playing T&T Ha Noi this weekend. — VNA/VNS Photo

However, things did not go their way. The U19 crown went to The Cong who defeated Hoang Anh Gia Lai 4-3 in the penalty shootouts.

The latter team, who has twice triumphed at the national premier league, are now in seventh place with only 23 points after 16 rounds. The title is out of reach with only nine rounds left to play.

Table leader SHB Da Nang are close to the title, maintaining at the top for a record 11 rounds since March 22. They now have 36 points, leaving nearest opponent Dong Thap on nine points.

HAGL’s focus must now be on the National Cup tournament where they will play V-League defending champion Becamex Binh Duong in Pleiku city on July 15.

The main reason for HAGL’s failure was poor defence, letting through 26 goal losses, the second highest after Thanh Hoa who are at the bottom of the table with 38 goal losses.

The defence was improved from the beginning of the season by adding Van Pho and Nirut from Dong Thap along with the return of the former national Le Van Truong.

But these measures did not work. Pho and Nirut, who has been Vietnamese for some months, have not co-operated on the field although they are teammates from their former club. Cesar just joined Vietnamese football and Truong returned after a three-year ban.

If it were not for Thai Sakda, who played the best among defenders, the number of goal losses would be more.

Former Thailand national team manager Chatchai who took charge of HAGL after the first quarter of the season has been unable to fix the problem.

What he can do now is pick up as many points as possible from the remaining games; the first one against T&T Ha Noi this weekend on their home turf.

It will be a difficult task for Chatchai as his rival is trying to run far away from the SOS group. T&T Ha Noi are in 11th position out of 11 teams. They had only one point higher than the closest team.

Advantage must go to the Hanoian club who is in good spirits after a victory 4-1 over Thanh Hoa on Sunday. Meanwhile HAGL suffered a three-loss streak. Their results on home turf are also not good with only four wins from eight matches.

In the first leg match HAGL went home with three points, beating T&T 2-0 at Ha Noi’s Hang Day Stadium on March 15.

VietNamNet/VNS