Coach Nguyen Duc Thang leads The Cong

Hanoi – After four months away from football, coach Nguyen Duc Thang is making a comeback, accepting the offer to lead his former club, The Cong.

Coach Nguyen Duc Thang will lead The Cong until the end of the 2023-2024 season, and his contract will be extended if he helps the team achieve good results. He is expected to make his debut on January 8th, when the team reconvenes after the break. Interim coach Thomas Dooley will return as Technical Director.

Duc Thang is a former The Cong player from 1995-2005, winning the national championship in 1998 and the national Super Cup in 1999. Afterward, he stayed with the club to work in youth development for a time before moving to coach the Hanoi T&T youth team (now Hanoi FC) in 2014. Under his leadership, Hanoi B won the First Division championship in 2015 and then changed its name to Saigon FC (now disbanded), relocating to Ho Chi Minh City.

Coach Nguyen Duc Thang led Binh Dinh in the 2020 First Division League. Photo: Duc Dong — Coach Nguyen Duc Thang led Binh Dinh in the 2020 First Division League. Photo: *Duc Dong*

The coach, born in 1976, led Saigon FC in the V-League in 2016 and 2017, then moved to Thanh Hoa in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, Thang led Binh Dinh to win the First Division championship, earning promotion and receiving significant investment to upgrade the squad. In the following three seasons, Binh Dinh's best achievements were winning the bronze medal in the V-League 2022 and finishing as runner-up in the National Cup 2022. When the V-League 2023 season ended in August, Thang decided to leave the club for a four-month break before accepting the offer to coach The Cong.

Coach Duc Thang took office at a time when The Cong was performing poorly, having only earned eight points after eight rounds and currently sitting 11th in the V-League 2023-2024. After a 0-2 loss to Hanoi FC in round six, The Cong parted ways with coach Thach Bao Khanh – also a former player of the team – and appointed Technical Director Thomas Dooley as interim coach. However, the former Philippines national team coach could not stop the decline, leading The Cong to successive losses against Binh Dinh 1-4 and Nam Dinh 0-3.

Coach Duc Thang will have about a month to prepare before The Cong hosts Khanh Hoa in Round 9 of the V-League on February 17th. Initially, when The Cong reconvenes on January 8th, the team will be without defenders Nguyen Thanh Binh and Phan Tuan Tai, midfielders Khuat Van Khang and Truong Tien Anh – all of whom are currently training with the Vietnamese national team for the 2023 Asian Cup. Three midfielders, Jaha, Hoang Duc, and Duc Chien, will also be absent due to injury, with their return expected in early February.

Hieu Luong

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