Futsal

HÀ NỘI — Thành Tín scored an eleventh-hour goal to help Thái Sơn Bắc draw with Sài Gòn FC in the 15th round of the National Futsal Championship yesterday in HCM City.

Thái Sơn Bắc put in an outstanding performance in the return leg of the tournament. They proved their power from the beginning of the match, forcing Sài Gòn FC to resort to counter-attack.

However, it were the hosts who scored first taking their chance during a rapid attack with Công Hải netting strongly for the opener.

Thái Sơn Bắc created several opportunities, but their forwards failed to find an equaliser in the first half.

Sài Gòn FC sprung another surprise with a second goal by Công Hải in the early minute of the second half, which was followed by five more threatening attempts.

Thái Sơn Bắc tried to play slowly and reformed their line-up. They then kept attacking and Tín narrowed the score at the 30th minute with a close tap.

He became a hero for the team at the 86th mark when Thái Sơn Bắc played a power-play tactic with Tín finding the net.

 “My players played well today. I just regret that they missed a lot of chances. However, one point is enough for us to maintain our lead over the lower teams in the ranking. We can still stay in this tournament,” said assistant coach Phan Trần Tuấn Anh of Sài Gòn FC.

Meanwhile, Marion Luis of Thái Sơn Bắc said his team was not good in the first half, although it had opportunities. It was better in the second half, and he was satisfied with the final result. However, he admitted Thái Sơn Bắc settled for a draw too often, four in six non-loss matches. It was not too bad, but he wanted to win more.

In the other match, Cao Bằng suffered their fourth loss in a row after they were defeated 2-3 by Sanna Khánh Hòa yesterday.

Cao Bằng started well scoring the first goal with Thịnh Phát stealing the ball from Sanna Khánh Hòa’s defender. However, they could not sustain their performance until the end of the match.

Sanna Khánh Hòa netted three times, while Cao Bằng had only one in-target shot by the end of the match.

Coach Hector Souto of Cao Bằng said the losses were due to the shortage of key players who were sidelined due to injuries. Their absence had strongly affected his team’s strength, especially when it switched to the power-play tactic.

In a later game, Tân Hiệp Hưng received their fifth defeat, losing 1-5 to Hải Phương Nam Phú Nhuận.

Assistant coach Tống Huỳnh Tân of Tân Hiệp Hưng blamed the mistakes made by the referees for his team’s loss. He said his players were hampered by the fines imposed by the referees, and so could not play as strongly as they wanted. However, he also said the coaching board would work with the team to solve its problems and ask it to focus on the matches for better results.

Coach Nguyễn Tuấn Anh of Hải Phương Nam Phú Nhuận said he had learnt a lot from the 2-3 loss in the first-leg match. The team must limit personal mistakes while improving the coordination between players so that it can score important wins, he said. — VNS