Singapore, 24 February 2025: Vietnam’s Công An Hà Nội FC have qualified for the semi-finals of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ with a perfect record of five wins from five matches, but coach Mano Polking has told his players to forget that achievement if the club is to lift the inaugural Southeast Asian title.
The V.League 1 side will face PSM Makassar having already registered victories over Buriram United FC, Kuala Lumpur City FC, Borneo FC, Lion City Sailors FC and Kaya FC-Iloilo in the group phase and Polking is insisting his team must now reset their focus onto the Indonesians.
“I'm very happy with the performance so far, but at the same time I always tell my players that the first step we need to do is done and now everyone starts from zero again,” says the Brazil-born coach, who led Thailand to the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ in 2020 and 2022.
“We’re going to have a difficult match in Indonesia. We have the advantage of playing the second match in front of our fans, which is always good and important, and we deserve that because we played a good group stage, but now all those five wins are useless.
“We have to refocus and have a good plan, a good strategy to play against Makassar. We know the team, we are watching them, and we saw how they did. We want to make the next step, and the next target is very clear, to reach the final.”
Polking’s team have set aside their indifferent domestic form to impress in the competition, kicking off their campaign in August with a 2-1 victory over reigning Thai League 1 champions Buriram United and the positive results have flowed from there.
A hat-trick by Shopee Star of the Match Leo Artur inspired the Vietnamese side to a 5-0 victory over Lion City Sailors of Singapore while 23-year-old winger Le Van Do scooped two Shopee Star of the Match awards and scored in four straight games, including a stoppage-time winner in a dramatic 3-2 win at Kuala Lumpur City in their penultimate group game.
“To win all the games was not easy,” says Polking. “We had a very good start against the favourites, Buriram United. I think that gave us a lot of confidence. But to win five games out of five at that level helps a lot the confidence of the players.”
The club’s performances in the Shopee Cup™ have created a buzz in Hanoi and, while Polking is delighted with the response to his team’s success so far, he is determined to lead his squad into a final clash against either BG Pathum United FC or Buriram United.
“When the chances are higher to win a trophy, it helps a lot to develop the team, to get more fans and to put the image of the club around more places,” he says. “I like that incentive with the Shopee Cup, to have this kind of tournament.
“The people here are very excited about the tournament and that we’re doing so well. They want to make sure we reach the final.
“We know it will be difficult but it’s a final game and in a final anything is possible. We have a team that can compete, that’s very clear, and I believe winning the tournament would be a huge step forward for the club.”
Công An Hà Nội will travel to Indonesia to play the first leg on April 2 before the teams meet again in the return fixture in Hanoi on April 30.
The other semi-final is an all-Thai affair with Buriram facing league rivals BG Pathum United who topped Group A with an unbeaten record
Catch all the news and information about the Shopee Cup™ on https://aseanutdfc.com/ and @aseanutdfc on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and X.
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