September 18, 2024
The second tier Asian Club competition used to be known as the AFC Cup but has been rebranded from this season as the AFC Champions League Two. The format has been revised a little to do away with the preliminary rounds, and instead, 32 teams compete in eight groups of four to produce the 16 sides to progress to the knock-out rounds.
The third tier AFC Challenge League has been reinstated for the first time since 2014, for the lower ranked nations to compete in, rather than in the Champions League Two preliminary rounds, with the winner guaranteed a place in next season’s Champions League Two. Therefore, the AFC Champions League Two can very much now be seen as the region’s equivalent to the UEFA Europa League.
The 2023/24 title was won by Australian side Central Coast Mariners, who beat Al-Ahed of Lebanon 1-0 in the final.
This week saw the first round of group games, with Group G featuring Thai side Bangkok United ( losers in the Champions League Elite Qualifying Round ), Tampines Rovers ( third in the Singapore Premier League ), plus today’s two sides, Lee Man ( 2023/24 Hong Kong Premier League Champions ) and Nam Dinh ( 2023 Vietnam V. League 1 Champions ).
Lee Man FC
Lee Man were formed in 2017 and are sponsored by Lee & Man Chemical Ltd.
Home is the 3,500 capacity Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground in the eastern part of Hong Kong, which has a grass pitch but is surrounded by a running track. Lee Man’s nickname is Golden Dragon.
Lee Man won their first ever league title last season, going through their 20-game season unbeaten, with just three draws, to finish eight points ahead of Tai Po and Eastern.
Their average attendance in 2023 was 716, compared with the league average of 577.
This is the fifth time Lee Man have qualified for AFC competitions, having previously beaten sides from Taiwan, Mongolia and Indonesia but losing to sides from Uzbekistan and Japan. This was their first meeting with a side from Vietnam.
Lee Man Squad
The Lee Man squad has a couple of familiar names. Ex-Motherwell, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee United Estonian striker Henri Anier ( 96 caps ) featured in these diaries whilst with Paide Linnameeskond in 2020, and Japanese midfielder Ryoya Tachibana was mentioned in 2021 whilst playing for Montenegrin side OFK Petrovac.
Dutch midfielder Mitchel Paulissen has come to Hong Kong after a long career with Roda Kerkrade, Venlo and Cambuur Leeuwarden in his homeland, and ex-Malmo, Hoffenheim, Standard Liege and Hammarby midfielder Jiloan Hamad won eight caps for Sweden and one for Iraq. Brazilian forward Samuel has played for Fluminense, Los Angeles Galaxy and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, amongst others.
35-year-old Brazilian striker Paulinho Simionato is perhaps the ultimate definition of a journeyman, having played for nearly twenty different clubs in his home country, and defender Min-kyu Kim is South Korean, but has played all of his senior career in Hong Kong.
Brazilian born striker Everton Camargo now has Hong Kong citizenship and has won 9 caps. Other Hong Kong internationals in the Lee Man squad include defender Ngai Hoi Li ( 13 caps ), keepers Ka Ho Chan ( 2 caps ) and Hing Kit Leung ( 1 cap ), forward Hei Yin Chang ( 5 caps ) and midfielders Wai Wong ( 48 caps ), Chun Ming Wu ( 26 caps ) and Lok Fung Ngan ( 6 caps )
The 2024/25 season in Hong Kong has only recently commenced, with Lee Man starting with a 2-1 win at Southern, but then perhaps unexpectedly they lost 1-2 at Tai Po.
Nam Dinh
When Vietnam became one of the first countries to first resume after the Covid lockdown in 2020, a Cup Tie between Nam Dinh and Hoang Anh Gia Lai was shown live on YouTube, and in a fantastic atmosphere of a packed crowd and brass instruments, Nam Dinh won 2-0. They instantly became my favourite Vietnamese side.
These diaries have twice featured Nam Dinh, a 1-1 draw with Ha Noi in June 2022 and a 1-0 victory over Viettel in July 2022.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2022/07/nam-dinh-fc-1-0-viettel-fc-att-11000.html
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2022/06/nam-dinh-fc-1-1-ha-noi-fc-att-19000.html
Unfortunately, a change in TV rights meant games from the V.League were no longer being live streamed on YouTube so it has been difficult to keep tabs on what is happening in the V.League.
However, Nam Dinh marched to the 2023 title, only their second ever title, and to perhaps play down their reputation of the Newcastle of the V.League ! This was only their second ever appearance in AFC club competitions, having lost five and draw one in 2008.
With an average attendance of 13,230 last season they were by some distance the best supported team in the land, and the only club with attendances in five figures.
Nam Dinh have only played one V. League 1 match in the 2024/25 season, losing 0-1 at Hong Linh Ha Tinh.
Nam Dinh Squad
Nam Dinh’s three overseas players in 2022 were all Brazilian. Striker Rodrigo Dias is now playing for Malaysian side Penang, centre-back Allison is back playing in lower leagues in Brazil, and striker/attacking midfielder Marcio Marques has returned to Nagaworld in Cambodia’s C-League. Ugandan midfielder Geoffrey Kizito ( 39 caps ) was a naturalised Vietnamese citizen, so didn’t count as a foreigner but is now with Becamex Binh Duong.
Instead, today Nam Dinh still have three Brazilians as their overseas players, midfielder Caio Cesar, winger Hendrio and defender Lucas Alves, who had previously played for Dinamo Bucharest and Luzern. Naturalised Ugandan attacker Joseph Mpande ( 15 caps ) had signed from Haiphong. Brazilian striker Rafaelson has also obtained Vietnamese citizenship, and now goes by the name of Nguyen Xuan Son, and hopes to play for the Vietnam national side.
Midfielder Nguyễn Tuấn Anh ( 47 caps ) is a current international and Tô Văn Vũ was called up to most recent squad but is still to make his debut. Left back Nguyen Hong Duy has won 33 caps.
Vietnamese sides in AFC competitions are permitted to register two extra foreign players, so Nam Dinh have signed two more Brazilians, centre-back Walber Mota, and ex Flamengo and Pacos de Ferreira winger Lucas Silva. However, only three foreign players are allowed on the pitch in League matches but all can play in the AFC Champions League Two.
Matchday Information
Today’s match was being played in the 6,664 capacity Mong Kok Stadium, which is normally the home ground of Hong Kong Premier League sides Eastern and Kitchee. It has a grass pitch but perhaps more importantly has no running track !
The distance between Nam Dinh and Hong Kong is 1,000km approximately by road, although the flight time from Hanoi to Hong Kong is scheduled at 2 hours 5 minutes. Around 50 Nam Dinh fans were in the away end.
The weather at the 19.00 local time kick-off ( 13.00 UK ) was dry and around 30 degrees.
Bet365, who streamed the match live, made Nam Dinh 11/10 favourites at 7/5, with Lee Man at 15/8 and the draw at 12/5. The match was also streamed on Onefootball.com and The AFC Hub YouTube channel.
Tickets were available on the day at HK$ 150 ( £14.50 )
Nam Dinh made five changes to the side that started in the loss at Hong Linh Ha Tinh, with all 5 of their Brazilians starting, plus the naturalised Rafaelson and Mpande so that only four players born in Vietnam began the game.
Lee man made two changes, with 18 year-old Timothy Chow ( 1 cap ) coming in at right-back and Samuel replacing Paulinho upfront.
Lee Man were in a kit of yellow shirts with a red and black band around the front of the shirt, with black shorts and yellow socks. They looked like a snazzy version of Watford !
Nam Dinh played in an all-white kit with light blue names, numbers and logos, which were difficult to read on the TV pictures.
Match Report
Lee Man made an extremely strong start to the match. With barely a minute played Samuel disposed Vu and ran towards the penalty area where Lucas Alves brought him down, but the referee must have assumed it was a dive as play continued.
Anier then ran into the area but his ball across the area was blocked, then Hamad made progress down the left, but his low cross was cleared by Lucas Silva.
In the 7th minute a long ball out of defence by Kim was flicked on by Anier to Samuel who laid off to Camargo, but again the Nam Dinh defence made the block.
After almost total domination by Lee Man, the visitors had their first attempt in the 8th minute when Van Toan received a return pass from Son to drill narrowly wide from 20 yards.
A minute later it looked like Lee Man should have been awarded a penalty. Hamad played a defence splitting ball between Vu and Lucas Alves for Samuel to run onto inside the Nam Dinh and Vu, in his attempt to recover, slid in and brought down the Brazilian. At first it looked a clear penalty, although the TV pictures were inconclusive as to whether Vu had played the ball first. Referee Ali Reda, from Lebanon, waved play on.
The fast pace of the opening phases continued as Nam Dinh went down the other end, Hendrio ran onto Duy’s ball down the left-hand touchline, beat Chow and sent a low ball across the 6-yard line. Wu, on the stretch trying to defend, got his foot to the ball, which only just went past the far post, but as it stayed in play, Son latched onto it only to shoot into the side netting.
With 12 minutes on the clock, Mpande won the first corner of the match. Keeper Chan got a punch to Hendrio’s in-swinging corner and Lucas Silva picked up the loose ball on the left-hand side. He pushed his way past Chow but his shot from 12 yards was straight at the keeper, who gathered at the second attempt.
Lee Man’s Camargo then committed a bad foul on Cesar, just to show there was no love lost between the Brazilians !
The breathless start carried on as Camargo wriggled his way inside the Nam Dinh area but under pressure from Lucas Alves, his shot lacked power and Manh made a routine save.
Samuel hit the floor again after being challenged by Vu, and again the referee ignored his appeal for a penalty. This looked to be a very good decision from the official.
In the 19th minute, after Hendrio’s free kick was partially cleared, Vu’s long-range effort sailed a few feet over the bar. Then, a minute later, Nam Dinh keeper Manh had to come out of his area to chest control a long ball before Anier could get on the end of it, and then cleared.
Perhaps understandably the game entered a quiet spell but came back to live with the first goal of the game. Kim was robbed of possession by Son midway inside the Nam Dinh half, who went on a diagonal run towards the right corner of the home penalty area. About to go down a blind alley, he flicked the ball back to Hendrio, who spread play with a cross-field pass to the left where Lucas Silva stepped inside Camargo and sent a curling effort from just inside the area heading for the bottom corner. The diving Chan managed to push the ball away, but only as far as the unmarked Son, who struck the bouncing ball home from 8 yards. 0-1 after 27 minutes.
Lee Man almost hit back immediately as Hamad chest controlled a cross from the left, turned and shot left-footed just over the bar from just inside the area.
Vu was then unable to prevent Samuel getting a cross in from the left by-line, but it was just a fraction too high for Anier, whose header went high over the bar.
Nam Dinh were a tad unfortunate in the 39th minute when the referee blew for a foul on Son, just a Van Toan burst clear with the loose ball.
The rest of the first half was uneventful and Nam Dinh headed to the dressing rooms with a one goal advantage, although Lee Man had enjoyed 55% of the possession but no doubt were rueing their failure to turn their early pressure into goals, and being denied a probably a penalty.
Lee Man appeared to make a tactical change at the start of the second half, with Tachibana and Paulissen swopping positions and the Dutchman playing more prominently on the left-hand side of midfield.
Samuel was soon found in space on the left but was stopped by an excellent tackle by Lucas Alves. However, the early stages of the second period were a little drab, with Lee Man failing to make much of an impact and Nam Dinh were comfortable in defending their lead.
The first attempt on goal came in the 54th minute when Son’s run was ended by a tackle from Tachibana, and substitute Hoang Anh sent the loose ball over the bar.
For a while the only attempts were long range efforts, with Paulissen seeing his attempt blocked by Lucas Alves and for Nam Dinh, Mpande shot high over the bar.
In the 67th minute Tachibana chipped the ball over the Nam Dinh right-back for Paulissen to run onto and then square to Camargo waiting on the edge of the area, but his left footed shot was at keeper Manh, who made a straightforward save. A minute later Camargo won a free kick in a dangerous position but got up to send his kick into the defensive wall. That was almost his last action as he was substituted shortly after.
In the 70th minute, a Lee Man free kick on the right was met by Anier ahead of the near post, but his flicked header went into the side netting.
Nam Dinh added a decisive second goal two minutes later. Hendrio sent a lovely ball to release Hoang Ahn down the right-hand channel, who in turn fed Son, whose shot was saved by the legs of Chan, but Lucas Silva was lurking unattended at the far post to turn the rebound into the empty net. 0-2 with 72 minutes played.
Samuel fed Paulinho, whose turn it was to go down far to easily inside the penalty area, and again the Lebanese referee was unimpressed. The game was drifting to its inevitable conclusion although with three minutes remaining Paulinho received a return pass from Cheng but shot a few feet wide from the edge of the area.
In the final few minutes Nam Dinh had chances to further extend their lead. Hoang Ahn played a ball into the area from the right but Lucas Silva’s connection from the 6-yard line was poor and the ball rolled to the keeper. A similar move followed a minute later but this time Lucas Silva was offside as the ball hit him and Chan saved.
In added on time Mpande crossed from the right wing towards Son, but Kim made the interception. The last piece of action saw Anier’s elbow accidentally catch Lucas Alves on the nose, causing a nosebleed and a lengthy injury delay. However, the Brazilian defender was eventually able to continue, and the final whistle blew soon after.
In the final analysis, Nam Dinh ran out comfortable winners, but Lee Man could take heart from their first half performance.
In the next round of fixtures, Nam Dinh host Bangkok United, who beat Tampines Rovers 4-2 in their opening fixture, whilst Lee Man travel to Singapore. Matches to be played on October 2nd.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8KTjk4Gbk
Lee Man : Chan – Chow, Kim, Li, Paulissen ( Ngan ) – Hamad, Wu ( Cheng ), Tachibana – Camargo ( Paulinho ), Anier, Samuel
Nam Dinh : Manh – Vu, Lucas Alves, Mota, Duy ( Vi ) – Van Toan ( Hoang Anh ), Mpande, Hendrio ( Tuan Ahn ), Cesar, Lucas Silva - Son
