'Thai Messi' shines, CAHN Club loses regrettably in Southeast Asian tournament: Coach Polking is distraught!

On the evening of August 20, CAHN Club visited BG Pathum's field, in the first match of Group A - Southeast Asian Cup C1 2025 - 2026. BG Pathum is a top team in Thailand, having won the Thai League.

With the home advantage, BG Pathum started the game more proactively and played aggressively in the first 10 minutes of the match. After that, when they got into the rhythm of the match, CAHN Club started to push their formation up to play an offensive game. The first dangerous situation that the Vietnamese representative created was when Alan Sebastiao pressed and then turned around to shoot in the penalty area, but BG Pathum goalkeeper played focused to block.

'Messi Thái' rực sáng, CLB CAHN thua cực đáng tiếc tại giải Đông Nam Á: HLV Polking thất thần!- Ảnh 1. — Leo Artur (left) assisted Alan to score the opening goal for CAHN Club

CAHN Club's attacking efforts were rewarded in the 20th minute. From Leo Artur's delicate pass, Alan moved intelligently to break the offside trap and unleashed a left-footed diagonal shot, defeating goalkeeper BG Pathum, putting the police team ahead 1-0.

In the remaining time of the first half, Alan and Le Van Do also had great opportunities to score and double the gap for CAHN Club. However, BG Pathum's goalkeeper played very well to make at least 2 visible saves for the Thai team.

'Messi Thái' rực sáng, CLB CAHN thua cực đáng tiếc tại giải Đông Nam Á: HLV Polking thất thần!- Ảnh 2. — The situation that caused BG Pathum's striker to receive a red card

Two other notable incidents in the first half included a disallowed goal and a red card. Specifically, in the 36th minute, Ekanit Panya dribbled the ball down the middle and passed it to Lopez, who ran down and sent the ball between Nguyen Filip's legs to score. But after VAR intervened, the referee determined that Lopez was offside, so the goal was not recognized.

In the 43rd minute, right at the edge of the CAHN penalty area, Matheus (BG Pathum) intended to dive and hook the ball but kicked it straight into the face of central defender Bui Hoang Viet Anh. The referee standing nearby immediately showed a red card and expelled the BG Pathum striker.

"Thai Messi"'s classy double

At the beginning of the second half, BG Pathum brought Chanathip Songkrasin onto the field. The player nicknamed Thai Messi made a difference to equalize the score for the home team. In the 58th minute, Chanathip Songkrasin received the ball on the right wing, turned into the middle and then curled his left foot into the near corner, leaving goalkeeper Nguyen Filip helpless.

'Messi Thái' rực sáng, CLB CAHN thua cực đáng tiếc tại giải Đông Nam Á: HLV Polking thất thần!- Ảnh 3. — Chanathip Songkrasin came off the bench and shone brightly with a double.

With the advantage of having more players, CAHN Club attacked continuously in the rest of the match and created many opportunities. However, the players of coach Mano Polking could not convert them into goals. BG Pathum's goalkeeper still played extremely well with many saves.

In the 90+7 minute, Chanathip Songkrasin once again showed his class. From the middle of the field, the "Thai Messi" fired a precise high shot, forcing Nguyen Filip to pick the ball out of the net for the second time. In the end, BG Pathum came back to win an unbelievable 2-1 victory over CAHN Club.