Football

HÀ NỘI — Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) defeated Cần Thơ 3-0 in the fifth round of V.League 1 at Pleiku Stadium in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai yesterday.

Midfielder Vũ Văn Thanh opened the scoring for HAGL in the 57^thminute, while striker Nguyễn Công Phượng scored two more goals for the hosts in the 67^th and 77^th minute.

“I, and the entire team, are very glad when we have three points on our home turf. We tried our best to earn this win. We are very young, but we played very decisively and we were united,” said Phượng.

“I found the confidence in my way of playing. This win will be a spiritual driving force for me and my teammates to play in the next rounds,” Phượng added.

In other matches yesterday, Quảng Nam crushed Sông Lam Nghệ An 3-0, and Quảng Ninh bested Khánh Hòa 3-0.

Also, FLC Thanh Hóa beat HCM City FC 1-0 on Saturday.

HCM City’s way of playing attack-defence made Thanh Hóa meet many difficulties in scoring in the official 90 minutes.

In the first minute of extra time, in a confused situation before HCM City’s goal, midfielder Hoàng Văn Bình scored a goal for Thanh Hóa.

With three points, Thanh Hóa continue leading the rankings with 13 points.

“My team’s win is not by luck. We not only have foreign players scoring goals, but domestic footballers also do well,” said Thanh Hóa’s coach, Ljubomir Petrovic.

Petrovic said if his team took full advantage of all opportunities, they would score more goals.

Meanwhile, the acting chairman of HCM City Lê Công Vinh admitted that his club played successfully, in terms of tactics, however, they were not lucky in scoring.

In other news, defending champions Hà Nội T&T tied with SHB Đà Nẵng 1-1 at Hàng Đẫy Stadium.

Nguyễn Quang Hải opened the score for hosts Hà Nội in the first half, while Vũ Phong levelled the score for the visiting Đà Nẵng in the second half.

This was the fourth goal for Hải after five matches in this year’s tournament. The 19-year-old  midfielder is the best second scorer in the league.

The capital team Hà Nội T&T lacked two key players, Gonzalo Damian Marronkle and Hoàng Vũ Samson, because of an injury and a suspension in this match, so they also did not have many opportunities and played to a draw.

“Hà Nội dominated the match and created many chances to score goals, but we missed. Marronkle had an ankle injury, so I couldn’t use him. How unfortunate!” said coach Chu Đình Nghiêm.

However, Nghiêm also praised Hải’s performance.

“I am very satisfied with Hải’s performance. If he is strong, he will be my No 1 choice in every game,” said Nghiêm.

Elsewhere, Đồng Tâm Long An lost to Hải Phòng 1-2 and Sài Gòn FC drew even with Bình Dương 1-1. — VNS