Ho Chi Minh City Club and the mark of 2 Nghe An bosses

At the beginning of the season, Ho Chi Minh City FC did not spare money to "recruit soldiers and invite generals" but up to round 23 of the season, Coach Miura's team has never entered the top 3 as announced. Their best result was only 4th place and they only lasted 2 rounds (rounds 4 and 5). Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City has had to stand at 13th and 14th place in the V-League 2018 rankings 3 times.

Change the manager in the middle of the road

The fact that only Mr. Vinh has had to leave his position while Coach Miura is still in charge is still quite surprising to many people. Of course, Gustavo Costa, Gonzalo Marronkle, Paulo Tavares, the foreign players that Ho Chi Minh City FC brought in at the beginning of the season, were the ones who had to leave early.

Mr. Vinh has only done well in non-professional matters. Photo: Internet

To be fair, since taking the position of acting president, Le Cong Vinh has done very well in non-professional matters. From renovating the toilet at Thong Nhat Stadium, the changing room to the advertising sign at Thong Nhat Stadium running on LED lights... Cong Vinh even personally stood up to sell tickets, give souvenirs to fans, and promote his brand in many ways.

But the professional mark of this boss who just took off his shoes and switched to management was not much, even Dang Van Robert, Sam Ngoc Duc and a series of foreign players that Vinh brought to Thong Nhat Stadium did not develop. Sam Ngoc Duc also left a bad image in the hearts of fans because of his violent playing style.

It seems that the small age gap between the boss and the players did not create enough prestige for Cong Vinh to carry out his duties as the club's president. The relationship between boss Vinh and coach Miura was not really close, when the person Cong Vinh wanted to bring to Thong Nhat Stadium was coach H. Calisto, not the Japanese teacher.

Rescue successful

Huu Thang was invited by Binh Minh Group to take over the hot seat from the beginning of May. Unlike the time he "rescued" Hanoi FC, this time as the club's president, Huu Thang quietly did his work and appeared less frequently in the media.

Immediately after changing his living and training location, Huu Thang sat down with Coach Miura to discuss professional matters. Looking at Huu Thang's way of doing things, it seems like he outlined a short-term plan to implement before considering a longer-term strategy.

For Huu Thang, after successfully staying in the league, the game has just begun. Photo: Internet

It can be said that the first job of Mr. Thang was to quickly increase the quality of foreign players and suitable domestic players, which prevented Ho Chi Minh City from falling too far to the bottom of the rankings. With his own relationships, Mr. Thang quickly selected foreign and domestic players who met the criteria and put them in play right away.

Chilean player Matias Jadue arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at the end of June and made his debut in the match against Nam Dinh FC. Having only played from round 15 to round 20, the Palestinian player has scored 9 goals, helping Ho Chi Minh City FC revive their hope of staying in the league.

When the Palestinian player tore his groin muscle during a training session to prepare for round 21 of V.League 2018, Huynh Kesley appeared. This Brazilian player is not a strange name, he is a foreign player naturalized in Vietnam and has won the V-League 3 times when he played for Binh Duong before.

After making a big contribution with a double in the 5-3 victory, Huynh Kesley continued to shine in the Ho Chi Minh City derby with the same city rival Saigon. In addition to scoring the opening goal, he also earned a penalty and assisted in a resounding 5-0 victory.

Seeing the 37-year-old veteran fighting in the two matches at Thong Nhat Stadium against the young stars of HAGL and Saigon, people felt regretful. If only coach Miura had used this Brazilian son-in-law earlier, Ho Chi Minh City might have had better results. Huynh Kesley's appearance made Hai Anh, Phi Son, Quang Nam... play much easier.

In the derby, Hai Anh - who played with Huynh Kesley - had a hat-trick, while Phi Son added another goal from the penalty spot. Boss Huu Thang was smart when he received Vu Anh Tuan from XSKT.CT to play as a central midfielder with Van Thuan, while Quang Huy from Hai Phong is a player who can play in many positions.

With 15 matches under coach Huu Thang, Ho Chi Minh City Club has only 4 wins, which is a rate that certainly cannot satisfy the two people who once led the Vietnam national team.

Not to mention the style of play of the Thong Nhat Stadium team is being judged as rough, the defense consisting of many elderly players is constantly conceding goals. The numbers 42 yellow cards, 3 red cards, 40 goals conceded will certainly be dissected by Mr. Thang and Coach Miura at the end of the season.

People even speculate that in Mr. Thang's club development strategy, coach Miura may not stay next season.