Lê Quốc Phương (middle) celebrates his goal for Thanh Hóa on Saturday. Photo bongdaso.com

Football

HÀ NỘI   The 1-0 victory over Bình Định club in the V.League 1 2021 on Saturday helped Thanh Hóa maintain an unbeaten streak through four consecutive matches, and helped their players in their pockets as well.

With this win, Thanh Hóa’s chairman Cao Tiến Đoan decided to award the team VNĐ1 billion (US$43,500).

"I am very happy so I continue to reward the team to motivate them," said Đoan.

Previously, Thanh Hóa team received VNĐ3.2 billion ($139,100) from the chairman after their victory over Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh, Hải Phòng and a spectacular draw against HCM City.

Despite being the away team, Thanh Hóa played confidently from the opening whistle. They took the lead in the 43rd minute thanks to Lê Quốc Phương’s free kick.

The pressure of Thanh Hóa and the psychology of the previous loss clearly affected Bình Định who were poor in the midfield. On the day when the stars Hồ Tấn Tài, Hendrio da Silva and Rimario Gordon didn’t play well, Bình Định struggled to create many opportunities on Thanh Hóa's goal.

"I am very happy, I hope my players continue to maintain their spirit of competition to raise rankings in the next matches,” said Serbian coach Ljupko Petrovic of Thanh Hóa.

On Bình Định’s side, coach Nguyễn Đức Thắng said he felt sad when his team lost two consecutive matches.

"The saddest thing was that the team couldn’t score. We will have a change on personnel next games to improve our result,” said Thắng.

In other matches, Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh defeated Sông Lam Nghệ An 2-0, and Sài Gòn tied goalless with Hải Phòng.   VNS