SINGAPORE -- Công An Hà Nội coach Alexandré Pölking admits his club only have themselves to blame for an administrative error that wiped out last week's 4-0 win over BG Tampines Rovers in the first leg of the AFC Champions League Two round of 16.
While CAHN were originally cruising to a place in the quarterfinals, their fielding of two ineligible players in that opening encounter -- first reported by ESPN -- means that result has now been overturned to a 3-0 win to Tampines, as confirmed by the Asian Football Confederation on Tuesday afternoon.
The AFC stresses that the onus is on teams to ensure all players they field are eligible, which Pölking accepts.
However, he has also called for better communication with the continent's football governing body -- after claiming that the club had been informed prior to the game that both players -- Australian midfielder Stefan Mauk and Brazilian striker China -- were cleared to feature.
"I'm always a little bit cryptic with some things but we are not transferring responsibilities here," said Pölking, when asked by ESPN about where any miscommunication may have emerged, in Tuesday's pre-match news conference -- just a couple of hours before the verdict was passed.
This was raised because Mauk responded on X to a post on the matter by writing: "You'd assume the match eligibility report from AFC days before the game saying we can play would be correct."
Pölking continued: "My question here is, 'isn't it in the best interest of everyone that things like this don't happen?' It happened last year in the same competition. It happened again.
"What happened the day before the game -- there is a meeting before, [the] match commissioner was there. I saw the report. Eligible players, all of them -- Stefan Mauk, China -- all in. Non-eligible players? None.
"But, of course, in small letters below [the fine print presumably on the report from the AFC]: 'please check yourself, we are not responsible...'
"If everyone knows, say what you know. I know we got informed [of the suspensions prior]. We should do better. It's our fault. I'm not transferring that.
"But I believe, for the best of the game we should avoid this kind of things. This changed completely the game, [it] could change the whole year.
"It's not over. We're going to fight. But is it not in the best interest of everyone that [on] the day before, the few guys from AFC or wherever, if you know they're banned, if the referee knows they're banned when [he sees them as he has to] check in the dressing room ... it's still our fault, but is there not one person to say 'wait, hold on, these guys cannot play'?
"It's a big lesson for us. [A] huge mistake but I don't like it very much and, to be honest, I also wouldn't like it very much if I'm the other side, just for the beauty of the game that should be avoided - and could be avoided with simple, better communication between the institution and the clubs."
A 3-0 deficit leaves CAHN with a massive mountain to climb now on Wednesday.
Yet, it is worth noting that they have absolutely dominated Tampines in their two recent meetings with last Wednesday's 4-0 victory following up a 6-1 rout in the ASEAN Club Championship a week earlier.
Pölking has no doubts his team possess the quality to get another big result but concedes it may now be down to a matter of mentality.
"We'll do our best," he added. "We know we can [win big again] but it's a different task.
"When it's still 0-0, to go on and win by three or four goals is one thing. It's different when you need to win by three or four goals. It requires very strong mental.
"But we'll go step by step, goal by goal. We need to be careful to not be overexcited because, if you concede a goal, then we now need five goals.
"We'll go for them and let's see what happens."
CAHN's cause will undoubtedly be led on the field by captain Nguyễn Quang Hải, who inspired last week's now-overturned triumph with a starring display -- scoring twice in four minutes before the half-hour mark to give his team a strong lead to build on.
Quang Hải, who vowed to do his best to put in a similar display, is widely regarded as one of Southeast Asia's best footballers over the past decade, perhaps only surpassed by Thailand's Chanathip Songkrasin.
Pölking once had the unenviable task of figuring out how to shackle Quang Hải on Vietnam during his time in charge of Chanathip and Thailand.
Now that the script has been flipped and he has Quang Hải at his disposal, Pölking identified that it was not just his on-field quality that makes him such an important player - after being asked to compare his past and present talisman.
"For me, it's an honour to coach players like that," he praised.
"With 'Jay' [Chanathip] and now Quang Hải, they are a top example fo the young generation.
He [Quang Hải] is not amazing just with the ball but also off the field. A great leader. First to arrive and last to go, always training very hard.
"Players like them make my life easier not just for their quality but their spirit and the human beings they are. Just an amazing player and amazing guy."