What's wrong Hanoi Club?

Hanoi FC's poor performance at the beginning of the 2025-2026 season may have made many people not realize that this used to be the most traditional force in Vietnamese professional football.

Hanoi Club (yellow shirt) wasted the opportunity and lost 0-1 to The Cong - Viettel in the qualifying round of the 2025 - 2026 National Cup - Photo: NGOC LE

In the past 4 consecutive matches in both V-League and National Cup, Hanoi FC has not known victory. The capital team lost 1-2 to Ho Chi Minh City Police, drew 0-0 with Hoang Anh Gia Lai, lost 2-4 to Hanoi Police before losing 0-1 to The Cong - Viettel.

Do not recognize Hanoi Club

The defeat to The Cong - Viettel on the evening of September 14 at the National Cup was nothing less than a slap in the face to Hanoi's ambition to regain its position. The capital team was eliminated from the National Cup, officially losing a chance to compete for the title when the season had just begun.

The last time Hanoi stopped at the National Cup qualifying round was in 2010, but that was when Hanoi T&T (the predecessor of Hanoi FC) had just been promoted to V-League. In the following years, the capital team regularly showed the image of a force and was proven by 3 championship titles, the second most in the history of Vietnamese football.

Getting off to a slow start is a common "habit" of Hanoi FC every season. But 4 winless matches is the worst start of Hanoi in the past 10 years. What is happening to the capital team?

"There are many factors that make Hanoi play poorly at this time. Maybe last season the team won the V-League runner-up, so we played a bit subjectively. In addition, the team's preparation before the season was not really good," said head coach Makoto Teguramori.

Meanwhile, another foreign coach, Velizar Popov (The Cong - Viettel), expressed sympathy, saying that Hanoi was somewhat unlucky.

The disappointment of veteran captain Van Quyet - Photo: NGOC LE

Luck is also an important factor in football. Because if we look back at the journey of Hanoi FC since the beginning of the season, we can see that they lack this factor. In the first 4 matches of the tournament, Hanoi had to meet 2 other championship candidates, Hanoi Police FC and The Cong - Viettel.

Hanoi Police are in very good form and possess a force that is considered to be superior to Hanoi. The Cong - Viettel also has a strong squad upgrade before the new season and has been trained for months under the hands of "monster" Popov. Against these two teams, any mistake will be paid for.

But we cannot use bad luck as an excuse for the failure of Hanoi FC. Because when facing two weaker opponents, Cong An TP.HCM and Hoang Anh Gia Lai , the capital team almost "shot themselves in the foot" by missing one opportunity after another and thus could not score.

Without a win, the fighting spirit of Hanoi FC was further affected. Many times on the field, older players like Van Quyet and Hung Dung had to frown and remind their juniors.

Difficulties in the generational transition process are inevitable that every football team has to go through. But in Hanoi, it seems that the team has not found a good enough successor to replace them.

Hanoi does not have a successor as good as its seniors - Photo: NGOC LE

Risk of 'beheading generals'

As head coach, Mr. Makoto Teguramori (Japan) is of course responsible for the team's achievements. He was hired to lead Hanoi FC to conquer the title in the season when the team will celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Having lost the National Cup, the team now only has V-League left. But with this start, in a context where many other forces are also eager to win the championship, it will be very difficult for Hanoi to be crowned.

So after the loss to The Cong - Viettel, the Japanese strategist showed a sad and disappointed face. Sitting on a pile of fire, his future seemed to be counted in days.

Coach Makoto's (middle) future is almost a matter of days - Photo: NGOC LE

Hanoi FC is a "grinder" of coaches, having changed nearly ten people in just the past few seasons. Foreign strategists have come to Hanoi, from Asia to Europe, and anyone who does not achieve the desired results must leave.

Makoto said that Hanoi must win when they play The Cong - Viettel in the 4th round of V-League on September 20, but the capital team's leadership probably won't wait until that match to make a decision.

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NGOC LE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sao-the-clb-ha-noi-20250915095426123.htm