The concerns of the championship candidate

The fact that Hanoi FC was eliminated from the first round of the 2025-2026 National Cup was a shock to Vietnamese football fans. The performance of coach Makoto Teguramori's team is considered the worst start for the capital team in the past 15 years.

Hanoi loses its identity

In the Vietnamese professional football arena, Hanoi FC is the most successful team, with 6 National Championships, 3 National Cups and 5 National Super Cups. Every time the "purple" team plays, the stands are always packed with spectators.

The capital's football has also produced many generations of talented players, achieving high results in the international arena. Therefore, when mentioning Hanoi FC, experts always rate the Hang Day Stadium team as the top candidate in domestic tournaments. However, since being crowned V-League champion in the 2022 season, Hanoi has gradually lost its position, "empty-handed" in the last 3 seasons. The time of declining performance is also the time when Hanoi FC's squad said goodbye to a series of key players and has not found suitable pieces to fill their places.

Despite having abundant operating funds, Hanoi FC's player purchasing policy is not suitable. They brought in low-quality foreign players, alongside a squad of veteran players who are aging, so they cannot absorb the tactics built by Coach Teguramori. Statistics through 4 matches played in the 2025-2026 season show that Hanoi suffered 3 losses, 1 draw, and conceded 7 goals. The aggressiveness of domestic players Van Quyet, Hai Long, and Tuan Hai is not enough to help the capital team attack better.

Nỗi lo của ứng viên vô địch - Ảnh 1. — Hanoi Club (right) had a poor start to the 2025-2026 season. Photo: VPF

What was even sadder was that Hanoi players lost their fighting spirit and suffered defeats in the two capital derby matches, against Hanoi Police in the third round of V-League and The Cong Viettel in the National Cup qualifying round. The last time Hanoi FC stopped after the first round of the National Cup was in 2010.

Coach Teguramori said: "There are many factors that make Hanoi play poorly at this time. Last season, the team won the V-League runner-up, so we started off a bit subjectively. In addition, the team's preparation this season is not really good."

Mr. Teguramori is expected to help Hanoi FC conquer the V-League title in the season when the team will celebrate its 20th anniversary. But the Japanese strategist's comments show a deadlock in leading the team. Many even speculate that his coaching style is not suitable for Hanoi FC and means that the possibility of him being fired early this season is very high.

Nam Dinh slow to catch up

Nam Dinh FC has won the V-League for two consecutive seasons, but the defending champion is having a slow start in the 2025-2026 season. The team from the South dropped the 2024-2025 National Super Cup title when losing to Hanoi Police and also lost many regrettable points when competing with weaker teams.

In the first leg of V-League this season, Nam Dinh unexpectedly suffered an early defeat when visiting Song Lam Nghe An Stadium right from round 2, being held to a goalless draw by the home team Cong An TP HCM and struggling to win all 3 points against Hai Phong as well as PVF-CAND.

Coach Vu Hong Viet's team recruited many high-quality foreign players to participate in many tournaments this season, including: V-League, National Cup, Southeast Asia Cup C1 and AFC Champions League Two. However, the team has not yet been able to find a striker of sufficient caliber to replace striker Nguyen Xuan Son. The naturalized player has not recovered from a broken fibula and is at risk of being out of action until the end of the first half of the 2025-2026 season.

Besides the goal of defending the V-League title, the Thien Truong team also expressed their desire to conquer the international tournament title. However, the performance of the foreign players has not reached its peak, when only Caio Cesar brought home 1 goal out of the team's total 5 goals in 4 matches played.

At 7:15 p.m. on September 17, Nam Dinh will open Group F of the AFC Champions League Two, hosting Ratchaburi Club (Thailand).