After a 1-2 defeat to Hai Phong in round 9 of V.League 2025-2026, coach Le Huynh Duc said that Ho Chi Minh City Police had a good match but were unlucky to miss many scoring opportunities.
Actually, today my players played well, entered the game well and maintained the game. The opponent also played well. Although the field was slippery due to the rain, both teams tried their best. In matches like this, the team that makes the most of the opportunity will win," coach Le Huynh Duc shared after the match.
Ho Chi Minh City Police opened the scoring quite early in the 11th minute, when Nguyen Thai Quoc Cuong headed the ball close to the goal to defeat goalkeeper Dinh Trieu. However, after the goal, the home team could not increase the gap despite creating many clear opportunities. Entering the second half, Hai Phong took advantage of the moment when Ho Chi Minh City Police were in a slump, scoring two goals in a row within 5 minutes to come back to win all 3 points.
Commenting on the reason for the failure, Mr. Le Huynh Duc said that the lack of foreign players was part of the difficulties of the team: "Loss of foreign players will definitely affect the playing style. I'm not saying the attack plays badly, because in reality we have many opportunities, we just can't finish. They had a few opportunities but took advantage better. The ego that is not most satisfied is the ability to finish, miss opportunities, which means missing goals".
With this loss, Ho Chi Minh City Police temporarily ranked 5th with 14 points, while Hai Phong rose to 3rd place on the rankings with 17 points.
