Unexpected reaction from Coach Popov after losing to HAGL

Coach Popov showed significant frustration at not being able to end the streak of losses and draws against HAGL. During the post-game press conference, he gave just three short replies.

On the evening of October 26, The Cong Viettel officially suffered their first defeat of the season after losing 1-2 to HAGL at Pleiku Stadium.

Although considered the underdog in this match, HAGL surprisingly scored first in the 24th minute when Jairo rose high to head the ball into the far corner. In the second half, the home team added another goal by Ryan Ha to extend the lead to 2-0. It was only in the final minute that Lucao managed to score a beautiful free-kick to reduce the deficit, but that was all they could achieve.

In the post-match press conference, Coach Popov gave a very brief statement, saying: "The only thing I can say is congratulations to HAGL for earning 3 points. I don’t want to talk much about Vietnamese football anymore; I’m here only out of respect for the press. This was just a normal game, we will fix our mistakes and move forward."

In fact, before this match, Coach Popov had already expressed caution about HAGL even though the home team was not in good form. The Bulgarian strategist confirmed that the game against HAGL would be the toughest away match remaining for The Cong Viettel. According to statistics, in six encounters with the Mountain Town team, Popov has yet to secure a win (3 draws, 1 loss while coaching Thanh Hoa, and 2 losses while leading The Cong Viettel).

With this result, The Cong Viettel (15 points) risks losing their second place on the standings as CAHN and CA TPHCM (14 points) have yet to play. Meanwhile, HAGL achieved their first victory and officially moved out of the bottom position.

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