On the evening of May 17th at Hang Day Stadium, Dong A Thanh Hoa lost 0-2 to Cong An Hanoi, thereby witnessing the opponent officially win the V.League championship 3 rounds early.
Speaking after the match, coach Mai Xuan Hop sent congratulations to the police team, and at the same time expressed regret about the match management of the refereeing team.
He said: "First of all, congratulations to Hanoi Police for winning the championship. Thanh Hoa has made a lot of effort. However, there are many small situations on the field that affect the match, especially the referee's officiating.
Coach Mai Xuan Hop mentioned the handball situation in the penalty area and many collisions that he believed Thanh Hoa players were fouled but not handled.
There were situations where player number 17 of Thanh Hoa (Van Tung) was fouled but the referee ignored it. Ngoc Ha's yellow card situation was also a bit heavy. I observed very carefully, there were 3-4 Thanh Hoa players gathering together to compete for the ball, not intentionally kicking the opponent, but the referee issued a card very quickly. That is a big disadvantage for us," Mr. Hop shared.
The turning point of the match came in the 60th minute when Ngoc Ha received a second yellow card and made Thanh Hoa only play with 10 players. After that, Hanoi Police took advantage of the numerical advantage to score 2 goals thanks to Alan Grafite and Rogerio Alves.
Despite the defeat, coach Mai Xuan Hop affirmed that Thanh Hoa will still fight their best in the remainder of the season.
All of Thanh Hoa's matches are finals. Only when the season ends and there is a clear ending will we stop thinking that each match is a final," he emphasized.
