Kyrgyz champions Dordoi-Dynamo will be gunning for a hat-trick of triumphs when final phase of 4th AFC President's Cup 2008 will be played at home of Dordoi Dynamo - Spartak Stadium - a multi-use stadium in Bishkek, that holds 23,000 fans. Both semi-finals will be played on Friday, 19 September 2008 with the final taking place at the same venue two days later at 4.30 PM.
Dordoi, who is looking to claim a hat-trick of President's Cup titles after victory in 2006 and 2007, will take on Nepal Police Club (NPC) in second semi-final (4.30 PM): a repeat of the 2007 final, which the cop team lost after going down 1-2 to Dordoi at Lahore's Punjab Stadium last year.
The first semi-final will see inaugural AFC President's Cup champions Regar-TadAZ take on Ashgabat, who became the first team from Turkmenistan to reach the last four of the tournament, winning qualifying Group C ahead of group hosts and 2007 semi-finalists Ratnam of Sri Lanka and Myanmar's Kanbawza.
Dordoi Dynamo head coach Sergey Dvoryankov admitted that he was happy the holders were drawn to face NPC. "We are happy to see NPC as our first opponents," the Russian told after the draw that pitted the back-to-back President's Cup winners against the side they defeated 2-1 at Lahore.
Nepal Police Club, who were known as Mahendra Police Club when they lost to the Kyrgyzstan champions in Pakistan last September, reached the final four as the best second-place side from the qualifying stage. The Kathmandu-based side finished runners-up in Group C after hammering Bangladesh's Abahani 4-0 and drawing 1-1 with Pakistan Wapda of Pakistan and 2-2 with eventual group champions Regar TadAZ.
Although Dvoryankov admits that he didn't see the Nepalese side in action at Malaysia's MPPJ Stadium he remains confident that Dordoi's victory over the 'Cops' in the 2007 final will give his side the psychological edge going into the September 19 clash. "Unfortunately, I did not watch any games of this team, but I know that last year Dordoi beat the same club in the final. We are building a new team now and completing hat-trick of AFC President's Cup is our main target."
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