Football

Bình Định's goalkeer Đặng Văn Lâm dives to block a kick from Viettel during their National Cup quarter-finals match. — Photo laodong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Đặng Văn Lâm, Bình Định FC reached the National Cup's semi-finals.

Despite playing away, Bình Định defeated Viettel 5-3 in a penalty shoutout after the match ended 0-0 in official time on September 8 in Hà Nội.

While all the visiting players succeeded with their kicks, Hồ Khắc Ngọc's attempt was denied by Lâm, who just signed a contract with Bình Định after playing seasons in Thailand and Japan.

"Penalties always make me really nervous. But having Lâm in front of the goal-mouth helped me to feel much better," said coach Nguyễn Đức Thắng of Bình Định. "He has become a strong support for teammates although he just came to us."

Thắng said he wanted the game to finish in 90 minutes but was pleased with the final result.

On the other side, coach Bae Ji-won of Viettel congratulated Bình Định but praised his players' effort.

"Congratulations to Bình Định for the win. Today my team played well but did not have a good result. Losing in penalties was due to different reasons. We practised spot kicks for the match but we were not lucky today," South Korean Bae said.

In the last quarter-final match, defending champion Hà Nội FC trounced Bình Phước 5-0 to move on.

Just two minutes into the match, young striker Phạm Tuấn Hải opened the scoring. Striker Văn Tùng made it 2-0 10 minutes later. Defender Đỗ Duy Mạnh, striker Nguyễn Văn Quyết and defender Nguyễn Văn Vỹ netted one each in the second half.

Hà Nội will play Hoàng Anh Gia Lai while Bình Định will play Thanh Hóa in the semi-finals in November with the date to be confirmed later. — VNS