HÀ NỘI — Quảng Ninh Coal defeated SHB Đà Nẵng 1-0 in the first round of the Nuti Café V.League 1 at Cẩm Phả Stadium yesterday.

Taking full advantage of playing at home, Quảng Ninh scored the opener in the 18th minute through Brazilian striker Teofilo Eydison.

Eydison’s goal drove the home side on but they couldn’t best goalkeeper Nguyễn Thanh Bình again.

In the second half, the visitors flooded forward to attempt to level the score.

However, they nearly fell behind further in the 54th minute when Bình fouled Marcus Vinicius of Quảng Ninh in the penalty area. Fortunately for the visitors striker Mạc Hồng Quân failed to score from the spot.

In the 79th minute, Đà Nẵng were presented a glorious opportunity to equalise when goalkeeper Huỳnh Tuấn Linh of the hosts fouled national U23 striker Hà Đức Chinh in the box.

Brazilian Đỗ Merlo stepped up to take the spot kick for Đà Nẵng but failed to level the scores.

The hosts controlled the remainder of the game, taking away all three points.

In other matches yesterday, Hà Nội FC beat Hải Phòng 1-0, while Nam Định tied with Cần Thơ 0-0.

On Saturday, defending champions Quảng Nam FC drew with Sài Gòn FC 1-1 at Tam Kỳ Stadium.

Although Quảng Nam controlled the first half, they didn’t create many dangerous attacks on Sài Gòn’s box.

After the break, the two sides pushed forward to seek goals. In the 47th minute, Hà Minh Tuấn headed the ball into the Sài Gòn net to open the scoring.

In the 62nd minute, following a defensive mix-up, Lê Hoàng Thiên levelled the score for the visitors.

At Pleiku Stadium, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) played out a goalless draw with former champions Becamex Bình Dương.

The event drew much attention of fans and media in the country, with HAGL heavily tipped for the title this season.

The stadium was full of fans who wanted to see HAGL’s midfielder and captain Lương Xuân Trường after two years of playing in South Korea on loan and other stars such as Nguyễn Công Phượng, Nguyễn Văn Toàn, Vũ Văn Thanh and Nguyễn Phong Hồng Duy who played for the national U23 team during their run to the final of the AFC U23 Championship in China in January.

However, Bình Dương, who are in the process of bringing new blood into their team, gave the hosts plenty of trouble but failed to score. — VNS