Hoang Anh Gia Lai sack coaching staff

After disappointing results in the V-League, Hoang Anh Gia Lai has overhauled its coaching board, sending waves throughout the Vietnamese football sector.
 

The team had earned five points with one win, two draws and four losses when a goalless draw in the seventh round against Pomina Steel Tien Giang was the last straw for manager Doan Nguyen Duc.

Sacking Thai head coach Arjhan Songamsap and his assistant Huynh Van Anh, the manager shocked both experts and fans on Monday.

“Changing the coach staff was unexpected, especially as I have a good relationship with the Thai coach and players. But football has cruel regulations that all participants must obey,” Duc said about the sudden decision.

Songamsap surprised fans and footballers alike a few years ago upon his arrival in the country with two championship titles in 2003 and in 2004 for the team who had joined V-League that year. He built the team”s reputation.

Songamsap left the club in 2005 to coach in Binh Dinh and Hoang Anh Gia Lai finished empty-handed in all competitions. The coach returned this year to restore the team”s standing.

In addition, management brought in a number of local and foreign players such as Duy Hoang, Tan Thinh and Brazilian Alves Kesley.

Duc had begun a push for a championship title this year, but, even with V-League”s best scorer Kelsey and under Songamsap”s direction, the team lost two games on home ground against newbies Khatoco Khanh Hoa and Tien Giang.

They couldn”t keep up their previous attacking style and the mostly over-30-year-old team were easily thwarted. They are now second from the bottom.

“Maybe I should have replaced him after the third round when we had two losses and one win. Since then, the team”s standing has only dropped,” Duc said. “I have to change the coaching board to salvage the team”s standing this season.”

“This is football, but in any other career, if you don”t do what the boss wants, you get sacked,” Songamsap said.

Coach Kiatisuk Senamuang, who was one of Songamsap”s assistants, will step up as head coach.

With the burden of turning this club”s season around, Kiatisuk will get help from the former national player Nguyen Huu Dang and the team”s captain Duy Quang as assistants. “When Senamuang was my assistant, he always had good ideas. I think he”s the obvious choice here and he has my support,” Songamsap said.

In the new position, Senamuang is the first ever person to be both player and head coach in V-League.

“I know the burden. I have to try my best in the upcoming months. Duc invested a lot in the team and I have to make it work,” Kiatisuk said.

He said the most important work to do right now was to build up a cohesive playing style for the footballers. He said he would work their physical strength and change the tactics so players would feel comfortable in their positions.

Duc said he believed that, with the change, his team would reach their potential. He added the goal still was to take the title this year, despite the team”s standing as 11th out of 13 V-League clubs.

The team”s first match with a new coach is on Saturday against defending champions Gach Dong Tam Long An.

( VNS )