On the evening of February 6, Hanoi Police Club welcomed Borneo FC at Hang Day Stadium in the final match of the group stage of the 2024-2025 Southeast Asian Cup C1. This was a formality match as the Vietnamese representative had already secured a ticket to the semi-finals as the top team in Group B.
However, coach Mano Polking's students showed a spirit of dedication and tried their best to win 3-2 against the Indonesian representative.
After the match, coach Mano Polking of Hanoi Police shared:
"I feel very happy when the team passed the group stage, entered the semi-finals and met PSM Makassar (Indonesia). This opponent is very far away so we need to prepare well for this journey.
The team also had enough time to prepare against a strong team like Borneo. We are happy after passing the group stage and will wait for PSM Makassar in the second leg of the semi-finals."
Hanoi Police rotated their squad in this match and gave opportunities to young players. In the first half, defender Giap Tuan Duong made a mistake that led to a goal. However, coach Polking was still satisfied with the performance of the whole team.
"I am completely satisfied with the players who played today and the depth of the squad. The team has a balance of young and experienced players, national team players. Before the match I encouraged the young players that they are good enough to play," said the Brazilian coach.
"In the first half, the young players played well, although there was an individual error that led to the goal. We will not make any changes and continue to fight with the current players."
Commenting on the match result, Borneo head coach Joaquin Gomez said: "I feel dissatisfied that the result was not as expected. But I am proud of the players because they fought until the end for the fans. The defeat prevented us from going further.
The team had to play against a club with many good players and a good coach. They scored first and caused a lot of trouble for Borneo. It was a good experience for our team and the players gave their best."
Coach Joaquin Gomez added that he was most impressed with Quang Hai and assessed that Hanoi Police is a strong team with many national team players.
With this result, Hanoi Police closed the group stage with 15 points after 5 wins. Meanwhile, Borneo FC stopped in this year's tournament when they ranked 4th in Group B.
