Thanh Hoa Club is at a disadvantage because of the match schedule
With a fairly high-quality team of players and the advantage of playing at home, Thanh Hoa Club is rated higher than Svay Rieng. However, the strength of the Thanh team is being seriously affected because of the tight schedule (3 matches in 9 days), as well as the squad having many injuries. During the pre-match press conference (January 21), coach Popov himself admitted the difficulties and that his team needed to try their best to win all 3 points. He shared: “Currently, Thanh Hoa is facing a number of problems, including 3-4 injured players. Besides, we also rotate the squad and create conditions for young players to have the opportunity to compete. Surely Svay Rieng is a big challenge.”
On the other hand, Svay Rieng had up to 10 days off and entered the match against Thanh Hoa with an extremely comfortable mentality. The Cambodian representative has 3 points after 3 matches, ranking 5th in Group A and only 2 points behind Thanh Hoa Club’s 2nd place. In addition, Svay Rieng’s confidence is also very high when in the domestic tournament, they are showing superiority, winning 7 consecutive matches.
Doan Ngoc Tan (yellow shirt) and his teammates are going through a busy schedule
Tough match of Thanh Hoa Club
Contrary to many predictions that they would play defensively, Svay Rieng Club suddenly pushed their offensive line up right after the opening whistle. In the first 10 minutes, the away team held the ball better than Thanh Hoa Club (more than 60%) and launched 4 shots. Right in the 3rd minute, Bounphachan Bounkong – the player known as “Lao Messi” launched a curling shot from outside the penalty area, causing goalkeeper Trinh Xuan Hoang to have difficulty blocking it. In the 5th minute, foreign soldier Cristian Roque (Brazilian) of Svay Rieng threatened Thanh Hoa Club’s goal with a header that narrowly missed the post.
From the 15th minute, Thanh Hoa Club controlled the ball better and began to deploy attacking situations. However, coach Popov’s team had difficulty reaching the opponent’s penalty area, having to use long balls or crosses from both sides. As usual, Luiz Antonio still plays an important role in Thanh Hoa Club’s playing style and he often brings many impressive plays. In the 19th minute, Luiz Antonio confidently took a free kick from more than 30 meters away, but unfortunately the ball was too light and was easily blocked by Svay Rieng’s goalkeeper.
In the second half of the first half, the two teams struggled and continuously fought back and forth. The midfield area became “hot” as players from both teams fought fiercely to gain control of the ball, opening up attacks. However, no team created a clear opportunity to score and the half ended with a 0-0 draw.

Thanh Hoa Club (yellow shirt) and Svay Rieng did not leave many offensive situations in the first half, drawing 0-0
In the second half, Thanh Hoa Club made many adjustments in attack, outplaying their opponents. In the 50th minute, A Mit entered the penalty area and had an empty opportunity to open the score. However, the Thanh Hoa Club player handled it too slowly, allowing the opponent’s midfielder to stop him. In the 63rd minute, captain Doan Ngoc Tan made Svay Rieng’s goal wobble with a powerful long-range shot, sending the ball close to the post. In the 68th minute, foreign soldier Yago Ramos shot a classy shot outside the penalty area but unfortunately still could not beat the excellence of goalkeeper Vireak Dara.
On the other side of the front line, Svay Rieng Club did not attack well in the second half. Coach Muñoz Zoyo’s team played slowly and waited for the opportunity to counterattack. However, Thanh Hoa’s midfield with the duo Thai Son and Doan Ngoc Tan played outstandingly, doing a good job of recovering the ball, not allowing Svay Rieng to deploy this kicking method. It wasn’t until extra time that the away team had a dangerous shot but was denied by goalkeeper Xuan Hoang.

A Mit missed the opportunity to open the score for Thanh Hoa Club at the beginning of the second half
In the last minutes, Thanh Hoa Club pushed the team high to find a goal. Coach Popov also played “all-in”, sending attacking players such as Vo Nguyen Hoang and Nguyen Ngoc My onto the field. However, Thanh Hoa Club’s efforts were unsuccessful and the match ended with a 0-0 draw with Svay Rieng.
Being held 0-0 by Svay Rieng at home, Thanh Hoa Club only has 6 points after 4 matches, ranking 2nd in Group A. At the same time, this draw could cause coach Popov and his team to lose the second place in the group to BG Pathum United (5 points) because in this round, the Thai representative only has to meet the weakest team in the group, Shan United (Myanmar). Meanwhile, the 0-0 draw with Thanh Hoa helped Svay Rieng get 4 points, continuing to rank 5th in Group A.