Regrettable loss to HAGL: The Cong Viettel and Coach Popov still challenge the entire V-League next season

Coach Popov is still satisfied even though The Cong Viettel lost to HAGL in an unbelievable way.

Photo: Minh Tran

Coach Popov's unbelievable defeat

Round 22 of V-League 2024 - 2025 witnessed a strange match, when Coach Popov's The Cong Viettel completely outperformed HAGL, with 3 times more ball possession (71.2% - 28.8%) and more shots (21 - 8) but left the field with a 1-2 defeat.

This defeat left the army team with almost no chance of competing for the championship as they were 9 points behind the top team Nam Dinh (36 compared to 45 points) with only 4 rounds left. However, coach Popov had no complaints about his players.

After the match, the Bulgarian coach revealed that HAGL is like a strange nemesis team, the only V-League club he has never defeated in his 3 years in Vietnam, with 3 losses and 4 draws after 7 confrontations.

Highlight HAGL Club 2-1 Viettel The Cong Club | Round 22 V-League 2024-2025

Khuat Van Khang competes for the ball with Bao Toan on Pleiku Arena field.

Photo: Minh Tran

"I'm just not satisfied with the result, but the team set a good tempo. The Cong Viettel played better but unfortunately lost. That's the interesting thing about football, the better team doesn't always win.

I have been a head coach in many places but I have never seen such a regrettable loss. But it is no problem. If one day the team draws or loses, I still like the Viettel The Cong players to play like this.

HAGL is the only team in Vietnam (within the framework of V-League clubs - PV) that I have not been able to defeat. All the bad luck at Pleiku Arena also explains that," Coach Popov expressed.

The Cong Viettel will be more formidable next season

Striker Pedro celebrates with coach Popov after scoring against Da Nang Club on May 3.

Photo: Minh Tu

In his open sharing, Coach Popov revealed a remarkable detail when he strongly expressed his satisfaction with the impressive performance of the young players of The Cong Viettel, who are showing surprisingly quick harmony with their new coach.

According to Mr. Popov, the satisfaction with the way the team deployed their rhythm, put pressure on each other and completely controlled the match was enough to overwhelm the sadness of the goal conceded in the 90+9 minute, causing The Cong Viettel to leave Pleiku Arena empty-handed.

This result makes The Cong Viettel seem to have no chance in the championship race when they are 9 points behind the top team Nam Dinh (36 points compared to 45 points). But it is very possible that this will make the army team even more formidable next season.

Viettel's The Cong is quickly shifting to a strong, domineering style of play.

Photo: Minh Tu

The army team is showing a very quick integration with the fiery playing style of coach Popov. If in the first match, The Cong Viettel launched 15 shots (3 times more than Da Nang Club), then in the second match Khuat Van Khang and his teammates had 21 shots compared to 8 of HAGL.

In both matches, The Cong Viettel showed superiority over their opponents: ball control time was always 65% or more, the number of passes was always over 600, the successful pass rate was over 70%. But especially, people saw a new "more aggressive" face with 30 fouls after 2 matches.

This shows that the army team is transforming, abandoning the romantic technical style of play to a more powerful, oppressive style that is more suffocating. It seems that Coach Popov is bringing what the team with the top youth training center in Vietnam needs: passion, desire, and determination.

All of the above, looking at the 4 matches that will comfortably assemble and test and give opportunities to young talents from now until the end of the tournament, will bring a feeling that The Cong Viettel will be extremely formidable next season, when coach Popov and his team have enough time to prepare together from the beginning.

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Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thua-dang-tiec-hagl-the-cong-viettel-va-hlv-popov-van-thach-thuc-ca-v-league-mua-toi-185250514214327614.htm