When Kiatisuk Senamuang resigned from his role as Port FC head coach after a disastrous 3 month-stint in 2017, his stock as a up-and-coming young head coach went crashing down and he subsequently took a 3 year-long sabbatical. That lengthy sabbatical proved to be the tonic that Coach Zico needed as his next job, the hot seat at struggling Hoang Anh Gia Lai, would see him power his way through the V.League 1 with the Mountain Men of HAGL now sitting nicely on top of the league as the 2021 season enters it’s halfway mark.
Despite his relatively young age for a head coach – 47-years old as of May 2021 – Zico has already amassed a wealth of experience in the business. His current stint at HAGL wasn’t even the first – it’s his third.
Retiring from the game in his early 30s, Zico went straight to coaching and took charge of HAGL for the 2006 V.League 1 season. The young head coach then took Thai football by storm shortly afterwards by taking Chonburi FC to 2nd place in the 2009 Thai Premier League season as well as winning the Sharks the 2009 Kor Royal Cup.
However, Zico’s stock in the Asian scene would rise after taking charge of the Thailand national teams in 2013.
Initially leading the Thai U-23s to the 2013 SEA Games gold medal and 4th place in the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea, Zico really got the region stand up and notice with his work for the Thai senior national team from 2014 to 2017.
With the Changsuek, Coach Zico won the 2014 and 2016 AFF Cups as well as qualifying to the final stages of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the Asian region. Underneath Zico’s tutelage, a number of current Thai internationals were blooded and managed to break their way into the spotlight – the likes of Chanathip Songkrasin, Charyl Chappuis, Sarach Yooyen, Peerapat Notechaiya, and Tristan Do among others.
As one of the nouveau riche of the Thai League 1 thanks to the massive financial backing provided by their club chairwoman Nualphan Lamsam, Port immediately set their eyes on Zico as the man who will lead them to glory. Once Zico had stepped down from his role as Changsuek head coach following a disappointing showing in the final round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the Lions of Khlong Toei stepped in and they replaced long-serving head coach Jadet Meelarp with Zico midway through the 2017 season.
However, this is when things start to fall apart for one Kiatisuk Senamuang.
In the three months Zico handled Port, he turned a stable, mid-table side into a shock relegation candidate in just 10 matches. During those 10 games, Port could only win one of them – a 3-1 win at home against a Thai Honda side that were destined for relegation. Other than that, the Lions could only amass three draws and six defeats, earning a mere 6 points out of the possible 30.
While there were some decent performances in a narrow home defeat against Singha Chiangrai United and a goalless draw against Bangkok Glass away at the Leo Stadium, it was failure to get points off smaller teams such as Sukhothai FC and Police Tero that costed Zico his job, coupled with his rather questionable tactics and conduct during his time at the PAT Stadium.
With his stock now in shambles, Zico withdrew himself from the limelight, avoiding the dugout but still being active within the footballing community particularly with his role as an ambassador for Thai-owned Premier League side Leicester City.
It was not until late 2020, when the Central Highlands of Vietnam once again called for his services, that Zico made the decision to make his return into the dugout.
In a country where fans prefer to support European teams rather than go local, HAGL stood out amongst the rest as Vietnam’s most-supported local club, gathering a following that’s even bigger then the country’s powerhouse that is Hanoi FC. HAGL were also sleeping giants of the Vietnamese game – having won two league titles and two domestic cups in the early 2000s, the team were in a period of stagnantatnon following their 3rd place finish in the 2013 league season.
2020 saw HAGL finish 7th in the league, their highest finish since 2013, however, that was only achieved on the back of their excellent record at the Pleiku Stadium, where they only lost twice throughout the entire season. HAGL struggled massively on the road as they fail to garner three points away from home and once they were through to the championship group and safe from relegation, the Mountain Men basically stopped trying, losing all but one of their games in the season’s second half.
Kiatisuk was called back to the Pleiku Stadium – where he was revered as a living legend – with one task: ensuring that HAGL would remain competitive throughout the 2021 season.
And boy, did Coach Zico exceeded expectations.
A porous defense was one of HAGL’s biggest shortcomings in 2020 and because of that Zico sanctioned the signing of a second foreign defender to reinforce HAGL’s backline. South Korean Kim Dong-su was brought in from German lower league side VfB Lubeck and he quickly struck a partnership with Damir Memovic of Serbia and another new signing, former Ho Chi Minh City FC man Nguyen Huu Tuan, in the HAGL defense, ensuring that the Mountain Men would have a wall of steel protecting yet another new arrival, Huynh Tuan Linh, in goal.
However the additions of Dong-su, Huu Tuan, and Tuan Linh weren’t the biggest upgrade that Zico has done to this HAGL squad. That distinction goes to the tactical and mental tweaks that Zico has done to the players, which enabled them to tap into their innate potentials.
Before Zico’s arrival, HAGL already has a talented squad within their disposal, all thanks to their renowned academy which had worked together with Premier League giants Arsenal in recent years. Coach Zico couldn’t have arrived at the right time – the current golden generation of HAGL’s academy was ever-present within the Mountain Men’s lineup.
Nguyen Cong Phuong had just finished a loan spell away at Ho Chi Minh City, while Luong Xuan Truong, Nguyen Van Toan, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Nguyen Phong Hong Duy, and Vu Van Thanh were established players in the HAGL lineup, all of them hitting their prime as Zico rolled into the Pleiku Stadium for his third stint.
However, despite their wealth of talent, HAGL often lacked the mental fortitude needed to flesh out results away from home and they were also unable to maintain consistent form throughout a season, which led to their stagnation in recent years.
“When I was appointed as HAGL head coach, I knew that the club’s owner would want me to play beautiful football. But for me, you cannot play beautiful football if you don’t win games,” said Zico in a post-match interview as quoted from VNExpress.
With that in mind, Zico implemented a tiki-taka approach to games that he had previously implemented at the Thailand national team – players are encouraged to retain ball possession for the team as long as possible and shoot on sight whenever a chance presents itself. Due to Asian players lacking stamina compared to their counterparts from outside the continent, Zico encourages a short passing system that eschewed the long balls that HAGL used to play in recent times. This, in turn, would enable players to retain their possessive style of play without fears of interceptions that comes with long balls as well as conserving their stamina for fixture congestions.
Zico also implemented a 3-5-2 system, which again, was something that he had done with the Thailand national team. Tuan Linh in goal, the defensive trio of Dong-su, Memovic, and Huu Tuan at the back, while Hong Duy and Van Thanh acted as wing-backs. Cong Phuong was shifted to the midfield instead of acting as a forward as he usually does, with the new position benefiting his ball control, roaming, lofted pass, and dribbling abilities massively. This allows Cong Phuong all the freedom in the world to trouble defenses and provide excellent service to the two strikers up front, Van Toan and Washington Brandao, who was brought in from Petaling Jaya City in Malaysia to replace Chevaughn Walsh who left HAGL for Thanh Hoa FC.
Most importantly, Zico emphasizes the importance of unity within the HAGL team. Players often train together, compete together, and live together underneath Zico’s watchful eyes, and they were also involved in bonding events together, such as when Kiatisuk took his players out for an internal Songkran celebration on April 14th. These outings would help players understand each other better which in turn builds both confidence and chemistry.
The bonds between players, local and foreign alike, were further reinforced by Werewolf game sessions held by them during training breaks or when traveling to away games by bus.
The result? After an opening day defeat away at Sai Gon FC, HAGL practically embarked on an emphatic unbeaten run that lasted to this day. Defending champions Viettel FC were thrashed 3-0 at their own Hang Day Stadium, while Ho Chi Minh City were handed a heavy defeat of the same score at the Pleiku. Not even Hanoi were spared from their rampage, with the Capital Team succumbing to a 1-0 defeat at the Pleiku which cemented HAGL’s position on top of the V.League 1 table.
Despite this excellent run of form, Zico repeatedly played down his team’s title chances. In post-match interviews he always reiterate that his focus at the moment is to establish HAGL within the upper echelons of the V.League 1 table and ensuring that they remain competitive there, before finally shifting their focus at silverware once the time is right.
COVID-19 may have delayed the final round of the V.League 1’s first half which could potentially slam the brakes on the red hot HAGL train, however by now the Mountain Men have done more than enough to send an ominous warning to the other powers of the league. They will enter the league’s second half as strong title contenders and this time, they will stop at nothing to ensure a first league title in 17 years.
But even if HAGL did not win the league this year, Zico can look back at what he has done at the Central Highlands of Vietnam with pride. He has rebuilt both the team that he had came to love and cherish so much and his stock as a head coach, all in one fell swoop.