Coach Mano Polking 'lightened' before the second leg of the Southeast Asian Cup semi-finals

Coach Mano Polking relieves pressure before the second leg of the Southeast Asian Cup semi-finals - Photo: Hai Giang .

The 2024/25 season saw CAHN invest heavily in both personnel and expertise. They brought in a series of quality names such as Leo Artur, Alan Grafite, Hugo Gomes, Vitao, Cao Pendant Quang Vinh and most recently Thai Leon. With a deep and classy squad, CAHN is expected to become one of the forces competing equally with the "big guys" in the V.League.

However, the reality was not as expected, CAHN had a difficult start to the season, only gaining 5 points after the first 5 rounds. This was an unacceptable achievement for a team with a star-studded squad from the coaching bench to the pitch. The team's performance continuously fluctuated and was often knocked out of the top 5 on the rankings.

With only 6 rounds left in the V.League, CAHN is temporarily ranked 5th. The team's goal is to enter the top 3, a reasonable goal considering the team's strength, but challenging considering their actual performance. In the last 5 rounds, CAHN has only 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. Most notably, the 1-1 draw against Ho Chi Minh City FC, a match considered "a draw is like a loss".

In this match, CAHN's somewhat tense playing style led to two consecutive red cards for Van Duc and Ngoc Thang in less than 20 minutes. What CAHN showed also exposed many problems, not only in terms of expertise but also in terms of playing mentality.

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CAHN just won the National Cup. Photo: CAHN Club.

Right after the unfortunate draw against TP.HCM, CAHN traveled to Lach Tray Stadium to face Hai Phong in the quarter-finals of the National Cup. Having an extra man since the 15th minute after Van Toi's red card, CAHN was the team that conceded the first goal in the second half.

Thanks to the brilliance of Phan Van Duc, Viet Anh and Van Toan, CAHN was able to turn the tables to win 3-1, thereby earning a ticket to the semi-finals. The result was positive but this victory still did not completely convince experts and fans.

CAHN's style of play still revealed many weaknesses, especially in the ability to organize when controlling the game. Coach Mano Polking also admitted after the match that the team "had many difficulties", especially "after the goal conceded in the first half of the second half", and he affirmed that "the whole team still has many things to improve".

The Southeast Asian Cup is where CAHN has placed high hopes. In the group stage, Coach Polking and his team made a strong impression when they won all 5 matches, surpassing formidable opponents such as Buriram United (Thailand), Kuala Lumpur City (Malaysia), Lion City Sailors (Singapore), Kaya Iloilo (Philippines) and Borneo (Indonesia).

However, the first leg of the semi-final against PSM Makassar (Indonesia) was a setback. CAHN lost 0-1 away, putting themselves in a position where they must win the return leg on April 30 if they want to qualify for the final.

The pressure on coach Polking comes not only from the professional results, but also from the great expectations of the fans and doubts about the stability of the team. Although he has gradually had the strongest squad in hand, especially when the pillars are returning, just one win is not enough.

CAHN needs a convincing victory, a performance worthy of the position of the most invested team in V.League at present. That will be an affirmation of CAHN's true ambition, and also a measure of coach Mano Polking's ability in a context of surrounding pressure.

Source: https://znews.vn/hlv-mano-polking-nhe-ganh-truoc-ban-ket-luot-ve-cup-dong-nam-a-post1548505.html