Thai newspaper makes surprising prediction about Hanoi Police Club in the second leg of the final

Twice leading, Hanoi Police Club still missed out on victory against Buriram

Hanoi Police Club drew 2-2 with Buriram United in the first leg of the Southeast Asian Cup 1 final. With this result, the two teams will have to fight in Thailand in the return match on May 21 to compete for the championship. The away goals rule is not applied in this tournament.

Siam Sport newspaper talks about Hanoi Police Club with certain caution (Photo: Manh Quan).

Before the rematch between the two teams, Siam Sport newspaper said that Hanoi Police Club can completely defeat Buriram United to win the championship right on Thai soil.

Thailand's leading sports newspaper praised the Hanoi Police Club: "Football teams in Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia all want to challenge clubs from Thailand, which has long been known as the "king of Southeast Asian football.

It's a pity that Johor Darul Ta'zim in the Malaysian championship is absent from the Southeast Asian C1 Cup, otherwise the tournament would certainly be much more exciting.

The final match between Hanoi Police Club and Buriram United still showed the special importance of this tournament. The proof is that the Hang Day Stadium (capacity of 15,000 seats) was filled, no different from when the national team played.

The 2-2 score that Buriram won in Vietnam can be considered "acceptable" because they still have the second leg at Chang Arena on May 21.

As expected, the home team Cong An Ha Noi used a fierce style of play, not hesitating to collide to impose their style of play on Buriram right from the first seconds. And in fact, this was clearly effective when the team from the Land of the Golden Temple was pressed and lost its inherent rhythm.

It is rare for Buriram to be in such a passive position. The match against Hanoi Police Club was one of the few times they were not able to play their usual style, due to the clear home advantage of the Vietnamese representative. However, it is also necessary to give credit to coach Mano Polking, who built a strategy that almost neutralized the Thai champions.

The quartet of Brazilian players including Hugo Gomes, Vitor, Leao Arthur and Alan Grafite, combined with the Vietnamese national team players such as Nguyen Filip, Bui Hoang Viet Anh and Nguyen Quang Hai, have helped the Hanoi Police squad become remarkably complete.

Hanoi Police Club needs to continue to play like the first leg against Buriram United (Photo: Minh Quan).

Therefore, it was no surprise that the Vietnamese representative dominated the game for most of the match. However, the difference between the Thai-League and the V-League began to become apparent after the 60th minute, when the home team could no longer maintain the pressure from the beginning of the match, while Buriram gradually regained control of the game and equalized in the 79th minute, even creating more stormy situations afterwards.

The 2023 V-League champions went all out from the start, but were unable to extend their lead and that cost them dearly. Buriram’s discipline and the way they dealt with pressure from both the stands and the relentless pressing of the Hanoi Police Club should be commended. They calmly played the ball, knowing when to speed up and when to slow down.

That is the difference that comes from "experience". Buriram has fought in the AFC Champions League, faced many top clubs in the continent and in domestic tournaments they have also gone through many harsh tests. But in every match, Buriram has overcome steadily.

Therefore, the 2-2 draw away from home is not a disadvantageous result for them. If they are not subjective in the second leg, the Southeast Asian C1 Cup can completely become their second title in the 2024/25 season. Coach Osmar Loss and his students clearly understand what they need to do at Chang Arena."

Siam Sport newspaper admitted to worrying about Buriram FC because of the disadvantage: "However, there is still one factor that Buriram must worry about, which is the Thai National Cup final against Muangthong United on May 24, just three days after facing Hanoi Police FC.

The 10-time Thai-League champions must consider whether to field their strongest squad in the second leg, as a "battle for honor" at Thammasat Stadium awaits them and their opponents are their arch-rivals for many years.

"You can lose to anyone, but you can't lose to Muangthong", that immortal saying is still imprinted in the minds of Buriram fans, partly showing the hostility between the two clubs.

If that worry can be put aside, Buriram's chances of winning the 2024/25 Southeast Asian Cup will be much brighter. Hanoi Police Club can own many quality foreign players, national team players and a coach like Polking, who is very knowledgeable about Thai football.

But overall, they are still underestimated compared to Buriram in almost every aspect when entering the second leg at Chang Arena. Therefore, the 2-2 draw was not a bad result for Buriram. Everything now depends on them. How will coach Osmar Loss's team manage to win the second trophy in the 2024/25 season?

Watch the Final match between Hanoi Police and Buriram at the Shopee Cup tournament live and exclusively on FPT Play, at fptplay.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-thai-lan-du-doan-bat-ngo-ve-clb-cong-an-ha-noi-o-chung-ket-luot-ve-20250516194626416.htm