Hanoi FC is determined to earn points at home in the AFC Champions League
Hanoi FC is in Group J with defending champion Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan), ACL 2021 runner-up Pohang Steelers (Korea) and Chinese champion Wuhan Three Towns. This is considered a group of death, but Vietnamese football representatives still maintain high determination.
"Hanoi will try not to lose matches at home," captain Van Quyet said at a press conference on the afternoon of September 19, one day before the opening match against Pohang Steelers. "When we come to the away field, we will try to win points."
Before Hanoi FC, Vietnam had seven clubs that participated in the AFC Champions League, including HAGL, Binh Duong, Binh Dinh, Viettel, Nam Dinh, Long An, and Da Nang, but no team had passed the group stage.
To prepare for the continent's biggest club-level tournament, Hanoi hired Bozidar Bandovic - an experienced coach at this playground. In addition, the team invested to have six foreign soldiers according to regulations. Hanoi FC kept the Brazilian duo Marcao Silva, Herlison Caion, Serbian player Milan Jevtovic used from last season, and bought Brandon Wilson (Australia), Damien Le Tallec (France) and Joel Tagueu (Cameroon).
Pohang Steelers won the AFC Champions League three times in the 1996-1997, 1997-1998, 2009 seasons and are regularly among the top 4 strong teams in Korea. Van Quyet highly appreciates his opponent, but does not lose his confidence. "We have to put aside our self-esteem when we meet strong opponents," he said. "Every team has 11 people on the field, and we will try to overcome our opponents to achieve the best results."
Like Van Quyet, coach Bandovic is confident that Hanoi FC can play well for 90 minutes with high intensity in the AFC Champions League. He believes that Korean and Japanese football are at a different level than Southeast Asia, so there will definitely be times when the team will have difficulty, so this coach wants his students to show their personality.
Hanoi FC will meet Pohang at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow, September 20, at My Dinh Stadium. The two teams met in the final play-off round of AFC Champions League 2016, where Pohang won 3-0. Vietnamese representatives have never defeated a Korean club in this playground.
