Hanoi Police FC won a historic, magnificent victory at the Asian Cup; Modric broke all stereotypes

Hanoi Police FC won a historic and magnificent victory at the Asian Cup

On the evening of October 2, at Hang Day Stadium, Hanoi Police Club won 3-0 against Dai Pho Club (Hong Kong-China), setting a historic milestone in their first time conquering the Asian Cup.

Since its establishment in 1956 and reconstruction in 2022, Hanoi Police Club has affirmed its position in the domestic arena (National Championship 1984, 2023; National Cup Champion 2024/25) and regional arena (Southeast Asia C1 Runner-up 2024/25).

With the continental arena, the 2025/26 season is the first time the Public Security team has participated, determined to create many historical milestones for the team and Vietnamese football.

And on the evening of October 2, the first milestone was set when Hanoi Police Club won its first victory in the continental arena, defeating Dai Pho Club (Hong Kong-China) 3-0 in the second match of Group E of the AFC Champions League Two (Asian Cup C2) 2025/26 at Hang Day Stadium.

After the first 20 minutes of probing, Hanoi Police Club started to speed up with many diverse attacks.

In just 5 minutes, from 27 to 33, Alves shone with a double against Dai Pho, helping the Vietnamese representative gain a big advantage as well as excitement to continue creating many dangerous opportunities towards Dai Pho Club's goal.

After a series of regrettable shots from Vitao, Gomes, Alan, Van Do, Dinh Bac..., in the 89th minute, Phan Van Duc quickly took advantage of the opportunity to shoot close to the goal, sealing a resounding 3-0 victory for Hanoi Police.

With this result, Hanoi Police rose to the top of Group E with 4 points after 2/6 matches. The following teams are Dai Pho (3 points), Macarthur FC (Australia, 3 points) and Beijing Guoan (China, 1 point).

Not simply 3 points, this is also a historical milestone recording the first and certainly not the last victory of Hanoi Police Club in the season to conquer the Asian Cup arena.

Ninh Binh 1-1 The Cong Viettel: 2 red cards and a draw

The match had 2 red cards, but both Ninh Binh and The Cong Viettel held each other to a draw, the away team even almost won despite losing a player quite early...

Playing away from home, The Cong Viettel took the initiative to attack the home team right after the opening whistle. Ninh Binh then responded, but all of their attacks were offside. After the quick attack, the away team took the initiative to slow down, but they still controlled the match and had extremely sharp and fast attacks. Even in the 10th minute, goalkeeper Van Lam's net was almost torn open.

Meeting old teammates, it was not surprising that Hoang Duc and Duc Chien on the home side were "locked down" by The Cong Viettel players, when there was almost no clear attack launch during the first 30 minutes of the match. However, the surprise happened in the 34th minute, during a block, central defender Bui Tien Dung pulled the player in the penalty area. The referee gave Dung a red card and Ninh Binh was awarded a penalty. This was very unhappy for Tien Dung, because today was his birthday. On the 11m mark, Duc Chien opened the score for Ninh Binh in the 38th minute.

In the 69th minute, Xuan Tien, who had just entered the field, scored an equalizer 1-1 for The Cong Viettel from Lucas's pass. The goal helped the army team to be extremely excited, they controlled the game and had many dangerous attacks that made the home team Ninh Binh scared many times. Towards the end, Coach Popov's students played better and continuously put pressure on goalkeeper Van Lam's goal.

In the 90+3 minute of extra time, Ninh Binh's foreign player Geovane received a red card for hitting an opposing player. In the final minute of extra time, Xuan Tien almost scored a goal to increase the score for The Cong Viettel, but luck saved the goal of goalkeeper Van Lam. With a 1-1 draw, Ninh Binh and The Cong Viettel both extended their unbeaten streak.

Haaland makes Champions League history

Erling Haaland surpassed Thierry Henry to enter the top 10 greatest scorers in Champions League history but admitted bitterness with Man City.

Erling Haaland continued to make a big impression in the Champions League when he scored twice in Man City's 2-2 draw with Monaco in the second round of the group stage on October 2 (Vietnam time).

This achievement helps the Norwegian striker increase his streak of consecutive scoring matches to 8, spread across both Man City Club and the national team.

With 2 goals against Monaco, Haaland surpassed legend Thierry Henry, taking 9th place in the list of 10 players with the most goals of all time in the Champions League.

If the 25-year-old striker only needed 50 matches to score 52 goals in the Champions League, the former French player needed 112 matches to reach the 50-goal mark.

Haaland concluded with a warning: “Every game in the Champions League is difficult. Look at last year, we were eliminated. The truth is not many teams can win both first two games.”

Modric breaks all the molds

In a context where European football is increasingly eroded by a dense match schedule, Luka Modric once again becomes living proof of the concept of "extraordinary".

At 39, and having turned 40 just a few weeks ago, the Croatian midfielder still played 76 games last season: 64 for Real Madrid and 12 for his country.

More surprisingly, the 2024/25 season also marks the first time since 2018/19 that Modric has not missed a game due to injury. He only missed three La Liga games, while he played the rest of the Champions League and the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Despite losing his starting place in Carlo Ancelotti’s final season, Modric has maintained a clear influence, both professionally and mentally, in the dressing room.

Last season’s endurance picture also saw the impressive return of Pedri. After years of struggling with injuries, the Barcelona midfielder played 69 games – the second highest of his career, after his first season with the “Blaugrana” (73 games, including EURO and Olympics). Pedri’s ability to maintain a consistent playing pace is a positive sign for both Barca and the Spanish national team.

In a context where players are increasingly criticizing the harsh competition schedule, Modric's ability to maintain his physical condition and competitive spirit at the age of 40 is "breaking all stereotypes".