Tran Tien
Football Tribe Vietnam
Hanoi crowned were crowned as ASEAN Zonal winners and advanced to AFC Cup inter-zone semi-final after winning 1-0 against Binh Duong in the ASEAN zonal final second leg.
Hanoi started the match with injuries to some key players, so they choose a more cautious approach to the game. Elsewhere, Binh Duong also chose to be more defensive in the first half, before coming forward and thinking about the comeback in the second half.
That lead the match to have a boring first period, and the atmosphere only heated up after the break. Binh Duong’s Pedro Augusto saw a powerful header saved by Nguyen Van Cong in the 47th minute, and the Brazilian forward then had an angled shot acrobatically cleared off the line by Hanoi’s Nguyen Thanh Chung.
After some dangerous situations which they were unable to convert, Binh Duong paid the price in the 61st minute. Goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong’s failure to gather a corner from Quang Hai lead Thanh Chung to assist for Pape Omar Faye, who scored the only goal of the game.
Hanoi were declared as the ASEAN Zonal champions and will face Altyn Asyr from Turkmenistan in the inter-zone semi-final.