Coach Polking cautious before Shopee Cup final

After an emotional comeback against Indonesian representative PSM Makassar, CAHN FC won a ticket to the Shopee Cup final, where coach Polking and his team will meet Buriram United - the team that just defeated BG Pathum United with a total score of 3-1 after two semi-final matches.

The Shopee Cup 2024/2025 final will be played in a two-legged format similar to the AFF Cup at the national team level. The first leg will be held at CAHN Club’s home ground on May 14, before the team travels to Thailand for the return leg a week later.

Coach Polking is cautious before the Shopee Cup final -0 — Midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai and coach Mano Polking.

Having to play the second leg away from home has caused some difficulties for CAHN Club. Coach Mano Polking believes that the tournament organizers should base on the results of the two teams in the group stage and semi-finals to arrange the match schedule. According to Coach Mano Polking's explanation, with CAHN's results in the tournament, the Vietnamese representative should be allowed to play the second leg of the final at home.

"What I'm concerned about is that CAHN qualified for the semi-finals thanks to their good results and were arranged to play the first leg away and the second leg at home. You saw the results. However, this doesn't seem to be applied in the final. I really don't understand (about this)," coach Mano Polking said at a press conference at noon on May 13.

It is worth noting that in the group stage, the Vietnamese representative defeated Buriram United 2-1 at home, creating a great psychological foundation for the upcoming rematch. However, coach Mano Polking said that tomorrow's match (May 14) will be a completely different match. "Buriram United has made many changes in players and squad, and they have just won the Thai League. Therefore, tomorrow's match will be completely different from the previous group stage confrontation," said coach Polking.

Also attending this press conference, midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai declared that CAHN has the best preparation and is confident in aiming for victory against Buriram in the 2 finals of the 2024/25 Southeast Asian Club Cup. “The entire CAHN team clearly understands that this is a match where everyone needs to show their full potential, from individual ability to collective strength. When entering a final, everyone is eager to win, and the team that shows the best character and form deserves to win the championship," Quang Hai said.

Both CAHN and Buriram United are football teams in Vietnam and Thailand, and possess many quality national and foreign players, so the match between the two teams is considered a classic match of Southeast Asia at the club level.

"For me personally, representing Vietnamese football in the regional arena is a source of pride, and I really want to try my best to win and bring home the title for the team," Quang Hai shared.

Nguyen Quang Hai is currently leading the list of players who have created the most scoring opportunities at the Shopee Cup, the Southeast Asian Club Championship. The star of the Vietnam national team and CAHN has created 19 opportunities in this tournament, ranking above two Thai stars Chanathip Songkrasin (17 times) and Theerathon Bunmathan (14 times).

The first leg final between CAHN vs Buriram takes place at 7:30 p.m. on May 14 at Hang Day Stadium.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-polking-than-trong-truoc-chung-ket-shopee-cup--i768197/