Tran Tien
Football Tribe Vietnam
Hanoi advance to AFC Cup ASEAN Zone final after beating Ceres Negros 2-1 at home (3-2 on aggregate).
The hosts opened the scoring in the 59th minute thanks to the goal from striker Omar Faye. The Ceres Negros’s defense complained about the possible offside from Nguyen Van Quyet in the buildup, but the referee saw no infringement and allowed play to continue. The Vietnamese international made the pass for Omar to score.
Five minutes later, Omar and Van Quyet combined once again to create the second goal for Hanoi, this time with the number 10 finding his way on to the score sheet.
After trailing by two goals, Ceres then threw themselves a late lifeline, as Curt Dizon scored at the near post on 85 minutes to reduce the deficit and set up a tight finale.
In the final minutes, goalkeeper Nguyen Van Cong denied Dizon with a fine save and Hung Dung blocked the shot from Schrock, preventing the goal which would have sent the Vietnamese champions crashing out of the tournament.
Hanoi held firm to see out the rest of the match with relative ease and advance to the next phase.
Hanoi will await the other ASEAN Zonal Semi-final between Becamex Binh Duong and PSM Makassar on Wednesday to see which team they will face in the final.