Hanoi: Vietnam’s Công An Hà Nôi FC will be looking to make it two wins out of two matches in the inaugural ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ when they host Lion City Sailors FC of Singapore in Group B on Thursday.
Alan Grafite’s 66th-minute goal proved to be the matchwinner as the Vietnamese side made a blistering start to the Shopee Cup by stunning Thai champions Buriram United 2-1 at the Hang Day Stadium and they will hope to get a similar result at the same venue this week.
The new V.League 1 has kicked off since their impressive win against the Thunder Castle, but Alexandre Polking’s side are yet to register a win two matches into the season. After a 1-1 draw against Hai Phong FC in the league opener, they went down 1-0 to Dong A Thanh Hoa FC on Friday.
But a side featuring experienced Vietnam internationals like Nguyen Quang Hai, Vu Van Thanh and Phan Van Duc will be eager to return the 2023 Vietnamese champions back to winning ways as they play back-to-back home matches in the Shopee Cup.
Apart from Grafite, Công An also have their new Brazilian trio of centre-back Hugo Gomes, defensive midfielder Vitao and attacking midfielder Leo Artur who will look to guide the club to further glories at home and beyond this season.
Meanwhile, 2023 Singapore Cup winners Sailors failed to impress in their first outing in the Shopee Cup as they conceded twice early on against Borneo FC Samarinda before the Indonesians secured a 3-0 win following a red card to their midfielder Rui Pires.
But they have since then produced some impressive results including a 6-0 win against Tanjong Pagar United and a 3-1 defeat of Balestier Khalsa in the Singapore Premier League as well as a 2-0 victory over China PR’s Zhejiang FC in their AFC Champions League Two opener on Thursday.
The win against the Chinese Super League opposition at the Jalan Besar Stadium will be a huge confidence booster for Sailors looking to get off the mark in the Shopee Cup as they negotiate another away fixture.
Their Serbian head coach Aleksandar Rankovic will once again rely on the scoring boots of Maxime Lestienne, Bart Ramselaar and Lennart Thy to take points off the Vietnamese opposition and get their Shopee Cup campaign up and running on Matchday Two.
Borneo, who got the better of Sailors last time around, will look for their second win in the tournament when they travel to face Kuala Lumpur City FC while Thai champions Buriram United take on Kaya FC-Iloilo of the Philippines in the other Group B fixtures on Thursday.
Công An Hà Nôi FC vs Lion City Sailors FC
Venue: Hang Day Stadium, Hanoi
Kick-off: September 26, 7:30 PM (Local Time)
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