Terengganu: Malaysia’s Terengganu FC will this time hope to make home advantage count when they host Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC of Vietnam in Matchday Two of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ under the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium lights on Wednesday.
Terengganu suffered a somewhat surprise 3-2 loss at the hands of PKR Svay Rieng FC on the opening matchday with Manuel Ott and Safawi Rasid their goalscorers in the defeat to the Cambodian champions.
Following that setback, Terengganu returned to Malaysia Super League action against Sabah FC at the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu with Ismahil Akinade’s first-half stoppage time equaliser rescuing a point for the Turtles on September 15 before having 10 days to prepare for the visit of Thanh Hóa.
Interestingly, Akinade has experience of playing in Vietnam for Ho Chi Minh City FC, SHB Da Nang and Hong Linh Ha Tinh as the Nigerian forward is now set to lead Terengganu’s charge against the V.League side.
Tomislav Steinbruckner’s side haven’t won a home match since a 3-2 win in the league against Negeri Sembilan in July and come Wednesday they will hope to change that.
Thanh Hóa, on the other hand, defeated Myanmar’s Shan United FC 3-1 at home in their Shopee Cup opener courtesy of a second-half blitz from Rimario Gordon, Yago Ramos and Luiz Antonio.
However, since then the club have lost the Vietnamese Super Cup final 3-0 versus Nam Dinh and then opened the new V.League 1 season with a 2-1 home loss against Becamex Binh Duong.
In a major boost ahead of returning to Shopee Cup action, Thanh Hóa got the better of fellow Shopee Cup participants Công An Hà Nội FC in the league last weekend with Yago Ramos’ 59th-minute strike settling the contest.
Velizar Popov’s side will now look to keep the momentum going when they travel to Malaysia to take on Terengganu with the Vietnamese side currently sitting at the top of Group A.
In other Group A fixtures on Wednesday, Thailand’s BG Pathum United will target their first win when they host Cambodian champions Svay Rieng with the other match of the night seeing Indonesia’s PSM Makassar and Myanmar’s Shan United battle for their first win of the competition.
Terengganu FC vs Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC
Venue: Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium, Terengganu
Kick-off: September 25, 9:00 PM (Local Time)
Share now
