There is a "very different" Hanoi FC

The match between the two representatives of the Capital in round 4 of V.league 2025/2026 took place in the context of the two teams' completely opposite performance. If coach Popov's team maintained an unbeaten streak after the first 3 rounds, Hanoi FC was stuck in the bottom half of the rankings with a series of winless records since the beginning of the season.

In previous matches, including the defeat in the National Cup against TCVT, Hanoi FC still showed their familiar faces in previous seasons when trying to impose a dominant ball possession style of play with continuous busy passes. However, in today's match, Ysuke Adachi's army seemed to completely abandon that to show a different style of play from themselves.

There is a Hanoi FC — Hanoi FC and TCVT compete in the match of round 4 of V.league 2025/2026.

Instead of flashy performances, Hanoi FC showed a somewhat rough and pragmatic style of play. Van Quyet and his teammates seemed to accept the "underdog" approach to the match. They did not try to control the ball and attack continuously but tried to make the most of the opportunities they could. Statistics showed this, when in the first half, Hanoi FC only had 40% of the ball possession time, but they had 7 times more shots than their opponents.

The home team also got results when in the 36th minute, captain Van Quyet had a smart pass that eliminated the entire TCVT defense so that Tuan Hai could run down and delicately finish, defeating goalkeeper Van Viet, opening the score for Hanoi FC. In the stands, coach Kim Sang Sik did not show much expression, but surely the Korean strategist could not help but be happy to see a key player of the Vietnam National Team regain his scoring touch after 4 months.

On the other hand, TCVT was also "different" from themselves in the previous season's Capital derby. Bui Tien Dung and his teammates proactively imposed the game with a superior ball possession rate to their opponents but had difficulty in deploying situations to penetrate the Hanoi FC penalty area. This only changed in the second half when coach Popov made adjustments to the playing style, the foreign coach pulled Khuat Van Khang from the wing to the center to form a drill into the purple defense.

This approach immediately took effect when TCVT created a much greater threat to Van Hoang's goal in the first half. If in the entire first half, TCVT only had one shot on target against Hanoi FC, then in just 15 minutes of the second half, the red team fired 3 shots (in the opposite direction, Hanoi FC only had one shot). Khuat Van Khang's equalizer was not only a shining moment for TCVT's number 11 but also a product of the smooth coordination between Coach Popov's students.

The equalizer was also a turning point of the match because after that, the two teams maintained an open game with tit-for-tat attacks. And at this time, Hanoi FC's problem continued to be shown. They lacked the ability to take advantage of opportunities. If Luiz Fernando had been more controlled in the face-off with TCVT goalkeeper or Van Truong had calmly adjusted his aim in the finishing situation from the second line, Hanoi FC might have had their first victory in V.league this season.

Hanoi FC had another draw in V.league 2025/2026. Coach Ysuke Adachi has shown many positive points in Hanoi FC's playing style, but perhaps the Japanese coach still has a lot of work to do if he wants to help the purple warriors regain their previous form.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/co-mot-ha-noi-fc-rat-khac--i781970/