Contrasting emotions of the 2 most unique foreign coaches in V-League after the dramatic draw

Coach Popov: "It takes 2, 3 rounds for everything to get on track in the V-League"

On the evening of August 15, the 2025-2026 V-League season began with a match between two championship candidates, CAHN Club and The Cong Viettel, at Hang Day Stadium. The two teams played an exciting match and drew 1-1.

Coach Popov shared in the post-match press conference: "All opening matches are difficult, no matter who the opponent is. No team has achieved 100% performance in the first match. It takes 2-3 rounds for everything to get back on track. Most of the teams are feeling heavy after the training process. However, Viettel The Cong Club performed their best in this match. Therefore, I am satisfied with the result and the spirit of the players today.

When asked about how to block CAHN Club, Coach Popov replied: "I cannot share details, but the tactics I proposed today were well executed by the players. There were still some mistakes, they could have done better, but that is part of football. In the end, the draw was probably a reasonable result for both teams. The competition in this match was also clearly shown. Of course, I emphasize that Viettel The Cong Club can do better in the future.

At the beginning of the second half, I made two changes. This also shows that the force of Viettel The Cong Club is better than last season. I will rotate, but the important thing is that the players must show that they are worthy. I am very satisfied with the new players. They need more time to adapt, but overall the quality of the players makes me satisfied. There are still players absent due to injury, suspension, but overall Viettel The Cong Club has better force depth than last season."

Cảm xúc trái ngược của 2 HLV ngoại cá tính nhất V-League sau màn chia điểm kịch tính- Ảnh 1. — Coach Popov and Polking draw

Why does coach Polking regret?

CAHN Club Captain commented: "In the first half, CAHN Club created many opportunities but could not score the necessary goals. When the opponent increased the pressure in the second half, the advantage was no longer maintained for us. However, in the second half, CAHN Club still had 2 clear opportunities but could not take advantage. Personally, I feel regretful that the home team could not win 3 points. After that, the whole team will move to Thailand to participate in the Southeast Asian Cup 1. Basically, what I built for the team will still be maintained, because everything is going in the right direction."

Mr. Polking added: "In the second half, Dinh Trong was injured, Quang Vinh also had to rest for personal reasons. I am waiting for the medical department to work to get specific information. I put Van Do and Dinh Bac in but maybe they need more time to adapt to the new season. We will review the video to adjust everything to be more reasonable."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cam-xuc-trai-nguoc-cua-2-hlv-ngoai-ca-tinh-nhat-v-league-sau-man-chia-diem-kich-tinh-185250815221212942.htm