HÀ NỘI — Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) lost to bottom-ranked team Long An 1-2 on their home soil in the 18th round of the national premier league yesterday. Long An opened their account thanks to HAGL’s Marcelino Motta Henrique, who scored an own goal in the ninth minute. Although goalkeeper Tô Vĩnh Lợi leapt to prevent it, he was unable to save the goal.

In the 53rd minute, Wander Luiz Queiroz doubled the score to 2-0 for Long An.

HAGL attacked constantly to seek goals, and in the 60th minute, Trần Minh Vương narrowed the gap to 1-2.

In the other matches played yesterday, Quảng Nam beat Thanh Hóa 3-2, Sông Lam Nghệ An crushed Đà Nẵng 1-0, and Sài Gòn was tied in a goalless draw with Quảng Ninh Coal.

On Saturday, defending champions Hà Nội FC lost to former champions Becamex Bình Dương 0-2.

The capital team were confident visitors to the Gò Đậu Stadium in the southern province of Bình Dương. They played in an attacking style with the best line up; however, they received their first jolt in the ninth minute of the first half.

As usual, hosts Bình Dương played in a defence-attack style, waiting for their rivals to display some weakness to clear the deadlock.

In the ninth minute, with a simple attack, Pereira Junior opened the score 1-0 for the hosts.

Hà Nội attacked repeatedly to seek goals, but they couldn’t break the defence line of the hosts.

In the 19th minute, Nguyễn Thành Chung of Hà Nội fouled Nguyễn Tiến Linh of Bình Dương in the penalty area, which earned Chung a red card.

In the 45th minute, taking full advantage of defender Nguyễn Văn Dũng’s mistake, Linh doubled the score for Bình Dương.

After the break, the two team changed their players. However, having to play with only 10 players affected Hà Nội players mentally and even their tactics.

In the last minutes of the match, Hoàng Vũ Samson scored a goal to narrow the gap of 1-2, but the referee didn’t recognise it, as Samson was in an offside position.

“Today, Hà Nội suffered from many disadvantages. The rainy weather affected our style of play. Moreover, we played with only 10 people since the first half. These things led to our loss,” said coach Chu Đình Nghiêm of Hà Nội.

“In my opinion, the race to the event’s title is not only for FLC Thanh Hóa and our team. There are about five teams who can fight for this title. Surely, following this loss, Hà Nội must do many things,” Nghiêm added.

Meanwhile, coach Trần Bình Sự of Bình Dương was satisfied with his players’ performance.

“My team beat Hải Phòng 2-0 in the last round. This win was a driving force for the team in the game today. Hà Nội are an archrival. So, I researched carefully their way of playing, especially of striker Nguyễn Văn Quyết, who has a great effect on his team,” said Sự.

“If we had got the best out of the chances we had, we would have  five goals, not two goals,” Sự said with a smile.

In other matches, Sanna Khánh Hòa were defeated 1-3 by Hải Phòng.

Cần Thơ came from behind to crush HCM City 2-1.

Victor Manuel Ormazabal helped HCM City take the lead in the ninth minute. Cần Thơ had two goals in the second half thanks to José Nsi Amougou and Nguyễn Quang Tình.

After 18 rounds, Thanh Hóa still top the rankings with 33 points, followed by Hà Nội and Quảng Nam with 31 points. — VNS