Becamex TP.HCM beat Thanh Hóa 2-0 in the National Cup: The underdog's counter-attacking blueprint runs to perfection

In the 34th minute at Thanh Hóa Stadium, captain Võ Hoàng Minh Khoa's corner kick did not bend inward like ordinary dead balls. Its trajectory curved outward, against the direction of the goalkeeper's and the home defense's forward movement. Daniel dos Anjos rose at the exact landing point and headed home. 1-0 for Becamex TP.HCM, a team playing in the First Division, on the pitch of a V.League 1 side.

In the 83rd minute, Nguyễn Trần Việt Cường broke the offside trap in a lightning one-two combination, received the ball inside the box and finished coolly. 2-0. The match ended. Both goals came from exactly the script that head coach Gerard Albadalejo had drawn before the ball rolled: defend deep, concede possession, punish the opponent at the two most vulnerable moments - set pieces and transitions.

People say I am crazy for predicting the underdog to triumph. I reply: craziness is the only way to see the future.

Before the match, every superficial metric favored Thanh Hóa. They play in V.League 1, Vietnam's top flight. Becamex TP.HCM were relegated last season and currently compete in the First Division. In theory, this was a favorite-versus-underdog fixture. But football rarely operates by administrative rankings, and this match proved it clearly.

The first difference lies in financial structure. Thanh Hóa "had just escaped a financial crisis." This phrase from the original article says more than it appears. A club that just survived a crisis usually carries lingering consequences: tightened wage budget, a thin squad, and near-zero margin for error. Meanwhile, Becamex TP.HCM, despite playing in the First Division, possesses a "heavily invested" squad with quality foreign players and former national team members. This is a spend-above-division model: they are not building a squad to survive in the First Division; they are building a squad to return to V.League 1 immediately.

The two clubs' competitive contexts are also moving in opposite directions. Thanh Hóa are fighting for relegation survival. Becamex TP.HCM are chasing promotion. One team is squeezed between the fear of the drop and recent financial burdens; the other is free to play its football without match-by-match existential pressure. This psychological gap does not appear on league tables but is very visible on the pitch. The National Cup, with its single-match knockout format allowing cross-division clashes, becomes a mirror reflecting the true strength gap that two separate league tables cannot show.

The 2-0 result was beyond the expectations of most fans. But for those who had followed Becamex's investment from the start of the season, it had its own logic.

Albadalejo's tactics were not innovative. Defend deep, concede the ball, accept abandoning the midfield, organize disciplined defense around the 16m50 area - this is the classic template of underdog football. But the most important thing in football is the fit between tactics and opponent, and Albadalejo chose precisely. When the opponent is a club nominally superior but weakened in spirit, finances and stability, conceding the game state and waiting for mistakes is the optimal approach.

The first goal came from a carefully rehearsed set piece. Minh Khoa's corner had a curve opposite to the defense's movement direction. As the ball left his boot, the entire Thanh Hóa defensive block instinctively shifted forward, while the actual trajectory delivered the ball behind them. Dos Anjos only needed to leap at the right spot. In a match where the underdog accepts surrendering possession, dead balls are the most reliable lethal weapon - and Becamex used it to perfection. This was a product of training-ground work, not improvisation.

The second goal was a reward for patience. In the 83rd minute, as Thanh Hóa pushed their entire formation forward in search of an equalizer, the space behind their defensive line multiplied exponentially. This was exactly the moment Becamex had waited for throughout 83 minutes. A long ball over the top - precisely the plan of using long balls for speedy domestic players that they had applied all match. Việt Cường is not just fast; he is highly intelligent. His offside-trap break showed elite game-reading: he read the home defense's intention, timed his burst perfectly, and maintained concentration in the 83rd minute of a tense match. That is the quality of a national-team-level striker.

Thanh Hóa, by contrast, suffered the classic disease of the stronger team facing a deep block: high possession, occupation of the opponent's final third, but no penetration mechanism. The original article described Thanh Hóa "having much difficulty finding a way into the goal" - a short description that reveals the entire structural problem. Controlling possession is not the goal of a match; penetrating is. When the team lacks an individual capable of creating moments of magic in tight spaces, possession football becomes harmless football.

After conceding in the 34th minute, Thanh Hóa pushed even higher. Mechanically, this increased the space behind their defense. And Becamex played even more according to their plan. A self-destructive spiral: the stronger team attacks more, the weaker team gets more counter-attacking opportunities. Football can be cruel in the simplest ways.

The crux lies in the difference between administrative tier and actual resource level. Becamex TP.HCM play in the First Division but possess a V.League 1-standard squad. Thanh Hóa are in V.League 1 but carry financial cracks that have not fully healed. When money determines quality, the ranking is just a signboard in front of the stadium.

The counter-intuitive point of this match is not that Becamex won. It is that the article itself called Thanh Hóa's early elimination "perhaps good for this club" as it allows the team to "focus entirely on the relegation battle." At first glance, this sounds like a loser's consolation. But from a resource-management perspective, the argument has clear financial grounding. A club that just endured a financial crisis and is fighting relegation in V.League 1 pays a price for every cup tie: travel costs, injury risk, and the diversion of already-thin resources. Early elimination from the National Cup means the entire season is now measured by V.League 1 results - where survival is truly decided. This reason is economic more than sporting.

Based on my experience following matches, I could be wrong about this view. "Just escaped a financial crisis" is not the same as "financially stable." If Thanh Hóa's crisis involved wage arrears, club-licensing risks under VFF regulations could still surface at future checkpoints. And if league results do not improve in the coming rounds, the message "early elimination is good" will quickly be re-read as "the club knew it was in trouble." In football, justification only holds value when results confirm it.

Rashica taught me that sometimes you have to eliminate yourself to understand how much you love the game. For Thanh Hóa, "eliminating themselves" from the National Cup is a deliberate sacrifice.

The next four to six rounds of V.League 1 will answer whether this sacrifice pays off. If Thanh Hóa survive, the defeat to Becamex will be remembered as a strategic moment. If they are relegated, it will become a symbol of a collapse that began with a corner kick.

For Becamex TP.HCM, this victory is a confidence milestone but also poses a bigger question. The counter-attacking plan based on set pieces and Việt Cường's pace can work in a cup tie. But over a long league campaign, opponents will learn to neutralize it. When opposing teams do not push forward naively, when they accept a draw from the start, Becamex will need a more proactive attacking solution. This is the puzzle Albadalejo must solve in the coming months.

This match also sends a broader message to Vietnamese football. The growing presence of relegated-but-financially-backed clubs is reshaping the power structure of the game. Money, not ranking, is gradually becoming the determinant of quality. The National Cup, with its cross-division knockout format, is where this truth is exposed most clearly.

People say I am crazy for predicting the underdog to triumph. I reply: craziness is the only way to see the future.

The future of Becamex TP.HCM is being drawn with clear lines: a club with money, a competent coach, and a victory to build belief upon. Thanh Hóa's future remains murky. They have just eliminated themselves from one arena to save another. Is the trade-off worth it? V.League 1 will answer in the coming rounds.