Coach Thach Bao Khanh Dismissed After Defeat to Hanoi FC in Round 6 of V-League 2023-2024, Technical Director Thomas Dooley Takes Over
Following the defeat at Hang Day Stadium last night, The Cong (Viettel FC) displayed inconsistency in their performance, with two wins, two draws, and one loss in the V-League. They had eight points and stood ninth, five points behind league leaders Binh Duong.
In addition, the military team’s gameplay seemed lackluster. They only scored five goals, equal to or slightly more than the bottom three teams: Ha Tinh (5 goals), HAGL (4), and Khanh Hoa (3).
Coach Thach Bao Khanh was appointed as head coach of The Cong on December 15, 2022. In his first season, he led the team to third place in the V-League and runners-up in the National Cup 2023.
Coach Thach Bao Khanh will leave Viettel to seek new challenges. Previously, the first professional club he led was CAND (now Hanoi Police FC), guiding them to the First Division championship in 2022 and promotion to the V-League.
Khanh, a product of The Cong (predecessor of The Cong Viettel), joined the senior team in 1998 and played for 11 years before moving to Thanh Hoa and Hanoi T&T (now Hanoi FC). He won two V-League championships in 1998 and 2013, and a National Super Cup in 2009. At the national level, he was part of the AFF Cup 2008 championship team.
The Cong will appoint Technical Director Thomas Dooley as interim head coach. Born in 1961, Dooley returned to the club in March 2023 to oversee the youth sector. He previously served as Sports Director in 2019 and 2020.
Born in Germany, Dooley played in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke 04, and then moved to the USA. Internationally, he played 81 matches for the USA, including captaining at the 1998 World Cup.
After retiring in 2001, Dooley pursued a coaching career but did not achieve significant success. Later, he was an assistant coach for the US national team from 2011 to 2014, then led the Philippines national team from 2014 to 2018 and in 2022.
Leave a Reply