The central region stage of the National 7-a-side Football Championship - Hyundai Cup 2020 By TC Motor (KPL-S2) is entering the final stage. After five rounds, the big faces of Khanh Hoa Province's movement football are sitting close to each other in the table.
The central region stage of the National 7-a-side Football Championship - Hyundai Cup 2020 By TC Motor (KPL-S2) is entering the final stage. After five rounds, the big faces of Khanh Hoa Province’s movement football are sitting close to each other in the table.
There is a change in the format of this year’s KPL-S2 compared to last year’s format. This year, the participating teams compete in a single round robin format to decide the champion based on points instead of competing in groups as the previous tournament. This change helps the teams to have more opportunities to compete for the championship. After five rounds played at the artificial turf field of Nha Trang University, C-CASA FC are temporarily taking the first place with 12 points with four wins and one loss. Their only loss was to runner-up Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa in round 4 with a score of 2-3. That defeat also saw C-CASA FC to lose their first place to Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa. However, in the fifth round, C-CASA regained the first place after demolished Tuan Huong (a new face in KPL-S2) 4-1.
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The highlight of the fifth round was the clash between the two big teams of Khanh Hoa’s movement football, namely Olympic Gym and Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa. The result of this clash would have a big influence on the positions of all teams on the rankings as the tournament was entering sprint stage. Heavy rainfall somewhat slowed the run of play and quality of the match. Olympic Gym took a lead with two goals, but they could not protect the score and let Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa to score twice in the last minutes of the match, which ended 2-2. The shared point saw Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa to currently sit second in the table with 11 points and Olympic Gym at fourth with ten points.
Meanwhile, defending champions Thanh Thanh Travel had a tough match against the team from Lam Dong Province, Hong Lac FC. Thanh Thanh Travel finally clinched a 1-0 win over Hong Lac FC. With this result, Thanh Thanh Travel currently sit third in the table on equal points but behind on goal difference to Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa. The current teams in the lower half of the table include Phu Yen (five points, fifth place), Dong De Khanh Hoa (five points, sixth place), Hong Lac FC (one point, seventh place), and Tuan Huong at the bottom.
It can be seen after the first five rounds that only four teams C-CASA, Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa, Thanh Thanh Travel and Olympic Gym have remained in the race for the championship. In the next round taking place on December 5, C-CASA and Nam Phuong Khanh Hoa are expected to overcome their opponents who are Dong De Khanh Hoa and Hong Lac. Meanwhile, many eyes will be on the match between Thanh Thanh Travel and Olympic Gym. The team that fails in this match is more likely to fall behind in the race to the championship.
An Nhien
Translated by H.N
