On the evening of September 15, in the match of round 1 of V.League 2024-2025, The Cong Viettel had a 0-0 draw at Thong Nhat Stadium of Ho Chi Minh City club. Although The Cong Viettel was highly appreciated and had a quality squad, they had a lackluster match and could not score against Ho Chi Minh City.
This result left coach Nguyen Duc Thang of The Cong Viettel unsatisfied. He said in a press conference after the match: "I'm quite sorry for one point. Thong Nhat Stadium today was soft, affecting the quality of the two teams. The final passes were no longer accurate, the ball handling was not good. One point away from home is not bad, but it's not enough to satisfy me."
Clubs will be allowed to register 2 overseas Vietnamese players this season. However, The Cong Viettel does not have any overseas Vietnamese players.
When asked about this issue, coach Nguyen Duc Thang said: "We have a youth training system, contributing many players to the national team. This is the reason we do not welcome overseas Vietnamese players. We use self-trained players, potential young players who are playing for youth teams such as the National U20.
Using overseas Vietnamese players is a good thing. This year there are more quality overseas Vietnamese players. Good quality overseas Vietnamese players also meet the problem of lacking high-quality training resources of football teams."
Ahead of the 2024-2025 season, there was much information that midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc would leave The Cong Viettel. However, he was still in the squad and played against Ho Chi Minh City. Coach Duc Thang arranged for Hoang Duc to play in many different positions.
"I used Hoang Duc in many positions like last season. Ho Chi Minh City played deep so our strikers had difficulty. I wanted to pull Hoang Duc deep to have many passes towards the strikers.
We have many approaches to the game. Not having Hoang Duc is a matter of the future. But now that he is in the squad, I still use him in my own way," Mr. Thang added about Hoang Duc.
