The AFF Cup champions faded!

Hanoi FC falls again at Hang Day

The 0-1 defeat to HAGL on the evening of January 24 did not eliminate Hanoi FC from the V-League championship race. Coach Le Duc Tuan and his team are only 5 points behind Thanh Hoa, while the season is still more than halfway through. However, the performance of Hanoi FC in the last 3 matches, especially the loss last night, is below expectations.

Highlight Hanoi FC 0-1 HAGL FC | Round 11 V-League 2024-2025

It only took Hanoi FC 7 minutes to... shoot themselves in the foot with an immature tackle that led to Vu Dinh Hai's red card. The player born in 2000 has been playing for Hanoi in the V-League since last season. Especially when coach Daiki Iwamasa took over, Dinh Hai was able to play regularly as a defender (a total of 22 matches in the 2023-2024 V-League). However, that was still not enough for a player who is 25 years old this year, but has very little experience. That immaturity was shown in the situation of a tackle with the sole of his shoe straight into Van Son's ankle, forcing Dinh Hai to "take an early bath".

Hanoi FC lost again

The use of inexperienced players like Dinh Hai was within the plan of the Hanoi FC leadership. The important thing is whether the key players of the capital team can carry the team. In the defeat against HAGL, the opponent had just lost 3 recent away matches before "traveling" to Hang Day last night, the answer was clear.

Despite fielding a squad with five AFF Cup 2024 champions such as Do Duy Manh, Nguyen Thanh Chung, Pham Xuan Manh, Nguyen Hai Long and Pham Tuan Hai, Hanoi FC still could not overwhelm the HAGL team, who are struggling in the middle of the table. The national team players were even the cause of the defeat. Duy Manh made a clumsy foul in the penalty area, causing the home team to receive a penalty. Tuan Hai was the result of a penalty kick that hit the crossbar in the 90+11 minute, directly depriving Hanoi FC of the last chance to celebrate Tet with 1 point in their pocket.

The paradox of Hanoi FC is that despite having many players who won the 2024 AFF Cup, Mr. Le Duc Tuan's team played without any form after the domestic football cycle returned. Hanoi FC drew 0-0 in 90 minutes and was eliminated from the round of 16 of the National Cup by Dong Thap. After a 2-0 victory over Da Nang, Hanoi FC returned to the difficult cycle with their first defeat to HAGL at home in many years.

'Difficult door' for coach Le Duc Tuan

In fact, having many national team players is not necessarily... an advantage for Hanoi FC. Duy Manh, Thanh Chung, Hai Long and Tuan Hai have all trained hard and played 8 matches in less than a month.

The series of "mountain climbing" journeys in the Southeast Asian playground has worn down the physical strength of many players. The proof is that when returning from the AFF Cup, the Vietnamese players only played averagely, even making mistakes.

Will Hanoi Club return?

However, the instability of the Hanoi team does not come from this factor. Since the beginning of the season, the Hanoi Club has not been able to demonstrate the philosophy of controlling and overwhelming attack like in the peak period (2016 - 2022). The personality and training method of "captain" Le Duc Tuan have not been effective. The Hanoi team still tries to control the ball, push the squad to attack, but the quality and ideas of playing football are no longer as abundant as before. Only 13 goals after 11 matches (average 1.18 goals/match), ranked 6th in the V-League, and the number of opportunities created is only at a moderate level, which is what the Hanoi team's coaching staff must study further.

However, coach Le Duc Tuan cannot be blamed. When the generation of Van Quyet and Hung Dung is about to pass the other side of the slope, Duy Manh, Thanh Chung, Tuan Hai or Hai Long are stable but have not yet broken through, Hanoi FC is having problems with the transition. The poor quality of foreign players and the lack of impression of young talents are the obstacles that are slowing down the capital team.

Hanoi FC still has time to correct their mistakes, but Van Quyet and his teammates need to act quickly. Coach Le Duc Tuan's anger needs to be "transformed" into efforts to help the team overcome difficulties, instead of just getting a yellow card like yesterday's match.

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Source: https://thanhnien.vn/clb-ha-noi-xuong-doc-nhung-nha-vo-dich-aff-cup-nhat-nhoa-185250125153310415.htm