Thailand coach Alexandre Polking has revealed that he has been on the receiving end of abuse on social media, following his side's 2-0 first-leg win over Vietnam in a volatile AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 semifinal clash.
The Thais claimed a two-goal aggregate lead in the last-four tie on Thursday courtesy of a first-half double from captain Chanathip Songkrasin but the match featured a plethora of flashpoints over several refereeing decisions, which culminated in confrontational scenes between the two teams after the final whistle.
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The palpable tension is adding further intrigue to what should be another highly-charged affair in Sunday's return encounter at Singapore's National Stadium.
And Polking, who briefly coached in Vietnam earlier this year with V.League 1 club Ho Chi Minh City and has often been complimentary of the opposition, disclosed the extent of the animosity that has developed from the first leg.
When asked about Vietnam coach Park Hang-seo's calls for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to be introduced in the tournament, which were also echoed by Indonesia counterpart Shin Tae-yong, Polking said: "I'm not sure if I want to talk about that because I'll probably have to again block 100 to 200 people on Facebook, who are insulting me and my family, because of refereeing decisions and I don't like that.
"I have always said I'm for VAR, as long as the decisions are being made quick at crucial moments of the game.
"Okay, I will take the risk... I understand they (the Vietnamese fans) have a lot of passion -- I was living there in a great country with people loving football -- but if we're talking about the incidents from the first game, unfortunately (for Vietnam), I believe the VAR would have made the same decisions as the referee.
"I'm not saying this because the decision went Vietnam's way or Thailand's way. I'm really just analysing the two situations Vietnam are complaining about. The VAR would also have checked our penalty (that Vietnam's Tran Nguyen Manh saved from Chanathip) and saw the goalkeeper did not have either of his feet on the line.
"We don't want to talk about referees anymore. We only have two days to focus on the second leg. It's still between two very good teams and I will keep repeating to my players that the job is not done."
Despite all the controversy, it is hard to argue that Thailand were not the better team especially in a dominant first half.
And midfielder Thanawat Suengchitthawon is only focused on a repeat of that performance as the War Elephants look to move one step closer to a record-extending 6th AFF crown.
"For me, we played well in the first half of the first match and showed our quality on the second goal," said the 21-year-old, who is currently on the books of Premier League outfit Leicester.
"I think all the players are confident heading in the second leg of the semifinal, and our goal is surely to go on to the final."