July 15, 2022
These diaries covered the results of week 5 in the V.League, and week 6 saw leaders Hai Phong slip to their first defeat of the season, going down 1-2 at Ha Noi in front of a crowd of 12,500. After Serbian striker Vladimir Silaldi gave Ha Noi the lead, a brilliant solo second half equaliser from Jamaican striker Rimario Gordon was unable to give Hai Phong at least a point, as Xuan Te Le’s brilliant run saw him have a simple one-on-one with the Hai Phong keeper, who was easily rounded to secure the three points for Ha Noi.
As a consequence of this result Ha Noi moved joint level with Hai Phong at the top of the table, but with it being Viettel’s turn to miss a fixture with just 13 teams in the V.League this year, they remained 4 points adrift of the leaders but with a game in hand. In their last game, Viettel slumped to a 0-1 home loss to Hong Linh Ha Tinh, conceding the winning goal in the 90th after squandering a host of chances.
The match was streamed live on the Next Sport channel on YouTube, and attracted over 190,000 views ! The temperature at the 18.00 local time kick-off was 29 degrees, and the bookies could hardly separate the two sides, with Hai Phong being extremely marginal favourites at 31/20 and Viettel at 8/5. The draw was at 2/1.
The first half was an even affair, and despite much effort and endeavour from both sides, chances were at a premium. The best opportunity fell to Viettel in the 17th minute, when an in-swinging free-kick from international midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc, was headed on towards the far post by Pedro, only for ex-Uzbekistan international Jahongir Abdumominov ( 2 caps ) to steer wide from around 3 yards.
Four minutes later, Hai Phong’s Gordon ran onto a bouncing ball but despite an athletic leap was unable to control or flick over the advancing keeper, who did well not to clatter into the Jamaican and give away a penalty.
Viettel had a scare 5 minutes before the interval, when a cross from the left wing was headed on by Gordon towards Chau, but left back Kien was alert to the danger and was first to the ball. However, his attempt to clear was with the wrong foot and sliced horribly towards the corner of the goal. With his goal-keeper well beaten, his blushes were spared as the ball went inches wide of the post for a corner.
Viettel made a double substitution in the 62nd minute and Brazilian striker Pedro was distinctly unhappy at having to make way. If he had looked up after gesticulating on his way to the bench he would have seen his replacement Nanh Dung Nham getting on a cross from the left wing to bundle the ball over the line from 6 yards after being left unmarked at the back post for an instant impact. Nham had made a good impression after coming on as a substitute in Viettel’s defeat to HLHT.
Hai Phong struggled to get back into the game with just Ugandan midfielder Jospeh Mpande’s shot from the edge of the area being easily held. It needed a soft penalty to bring the hosts back on level terms in the 76th minute. Gordon was heading away from goal as Bui made an unnecessary challenge and made contact with Gordon’s shin, and the Jamaican didn’t need an invitation to crash to the floor to win the penalty. After a delay off over 2 minutes as Viettel protested and order restored, Gordon drilled the spot-kick into the bottom corner.
The decisive moment of the game arose in the 84th minute. A long ball from the Vittel left back caught the Hai Phong back line napping. Nham headed along the edge of the penalty area for Abdumominov to burst forward, and despite the close attention of Ugandan Moses Oloya, the ex-Lokomotiv Tashkent man slotted the ball past the advancing keeper and into the net to atone for his earlier miss and restore Viettel’s lead.
Gordon thought he had equalised for Hai Phong in the 90th minute, but after following the old saying to head the ball downwards, his powerful header from 10 yards bounced over the bar ! In the 5 minutes of added on time, Mpande looked to be clear on the edge of the area but was unable to control the ball over the top, and with virtually the kick of the game, HH Nguyen took a free-kick which was caught under the bar by the Viettel keeper and although there were appeals that the ball had been carried over the line, these were ignored by the referee as Viettel held on for the three points.
Following consecutive defeats, Hai Phong dropped to second in the V.League.
Hai Phong : DT Nguyen – DN Dung, Oloya, NQ Chau, TD Bui – LM Dung ( PH Duong ), Mpande , TH Pham ( VM Nguyen ), TH Le, VH Trieu - Gordon
Viettel : MT Nyguyen – DT Bui, CTH Hung, BD Tranh, NX Kien - Abdumominov, NH Duc, TR Truong ( QK Bui ) - VH Duong ( DHN Nguyan ), Pedro ( ND Nham ), Magno ( TD Trung )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MWv5ebtWK4
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