Round 3 V-League: Exciting Thong Nhat and Hang Day Stadiums

sân hàng đẫy - Ảnh 1. — Will Tien Linh (right) and CATP Club have their second win at Thong Nhat Stadium? - Photo: NK

If the Hang Day Stadium is a fiery derby, the match at Thong Nhat Stadium is expected to witness a resounding victory for the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club.

Thong Nhat Stadium open?

Thong Nhat Stadium has been gloomy for many seasons due to the poor performance of Ho Chi Minh City Club. But when the team was transferred and renamed Ho Chi Minh City Police Club (CATP), the spectacular debut in the opening match of V-League 2025 - 2026 brought excitement to fans. Especially CATP's 2-1 victory over the current runner-up Hanoi .

After losing 0-3 to the championship candidate The Cong - Viettel at Hang Day Stadium in round 2, returning to Thong Nhat Stadium, coach Le Huynh Duc and his team need to defeat Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) to compete for achievements and regain the trust of fans. Having just forced the home team Hanoi to share points and having only 1 point after 2 matches, HAGL will fight with all their might against the home team CATP.

In addition to center-back Matheus Felipe being at fault for all three goals conceded, CATP FC's defeat to The Cong - Viettel also came from the lack of a quality central midfielder in the midfield. Not to mention the two new foreign strikers Mbo Noel and Raphael Utzig playing poorly due to little time to integrate.

Therefore, before the closing date of the transfer market at the beginning of the season on August 26, coach Le Huynh Duc added central midfielder Peter Makrillos to replace Mbo Noel.

This 1m86 tall player, who used to play for Stoke City U18 team (England), is expected to help CATP Club increase its creativity and control the midfield to win against HAGL. Whether Thong Nhat Stadium will be as festive as the opening match or not depends a lot on the debut of midfielder Peter Makrillos and striker Raphael Utzig.

sân hàng đẫy - Ảnh 2. — Quang Hai (left cover) and Hanoi Police will face Hanoi Club tonight, August 28 - Photo: TTO

Fiery capital derby

This season, Hanoi FC continued to show a slow start. After 2 draws and losses (against HAGL and CATP respectively), Hanoi FC ranked 11th on the rankings. This shows that Hanoi FC's attack has not yet gotten into gear.

Especially in the draw with HAGL, coach Teguramori Makoto, despite replacing all of his best attacking players on the field, Hanoi Club still could not score after 21 shots.

Facing the championship candidate Cong An Ha Noi (CAHN), Ha Noi FC must improve their finishing if they do not want to suffer the same result as the previous two matches. However, winning is not easy because CAHN FC is in very good form.

Starting the season with the 2025 National Super Cup championship, CAHN still maintained an unbeaten streak in the domestic tournament. They drew championship candidate The Cong - Viettel 1-1 and beat host Becamex TP.HCM 3-0 to finish second in the rankings. This season, CAHN added many new elements. In particular, the defense was reinforced by center-back Adou Minh.

Dinh Trong is gradually regaining his form. The midfield has star Stephan Mauk. In particular, striker Alan Sebastiao is in very good form, scoring in 4 consecutive matches in both domestic and Southeast Asian competitions. Alan was the "Top scorer" of the V-League last season, and has a good relationship with Hanoi's net, scoring 4 goals in the past 2 years.

To win the championship as the set goal, Hanoi Club needs to defeat tough opponents like CAHN.