AFC Champions League 2021: Viettel edge Kaya FC-Iloilo for winning end to AFC Champions League run
Bangkok: Viettel FC ended their debut AFC Champions League campaign on a high note after overcoming stiff resistance from nine-men Kaya FC-Iloilo to win 1-0 on Sunday.
Caique’s second half goal – scored after Kaya lost two players in the space of two minutes – proved the difference as Vietnam’s Viettel – in their maiden AFC Champions League campaign – finished third in Group F with six points, while the Philippines side ended their debut campaign without a point.
Viettel kicked off brightly and had their first sight on goal in the sixth minute with Caique taking a shot from inside the box but the Kaya defenders were alert to the danger.
Kaya, who suffered a 5-0 loss to the Vietnamese champions on Matchday Two, had shown much progress since and they looked comfortable as they sat in their half looking for an opportunity to counter-attack.
One such instance in the 19th minute saw Kaya racing up the pitch with Kenshiro Daniels’s cross finding Eric Giganto whose attempt rattled the side netting.
Caique and Nguyen Trong Hoang were Viettel’s two main attacking threats and the duo paired up in the 28th minute but the Brazilian sent his shot wide, with the Vietnam international also coming close a minute later.
Unlike their first meeting, Kaya’s defence was more organised and compact which forced Viettel to find openings through the flanks or taking their chances from distance, but it bore no fruit as both sides went into the break empty handed.
Viettel kept pressing for the opening goal with Trong Hoang forcing Kaya goalkeeper Zach Banzon into making a fine save just two minutes into the second half.
The Philippines club suffered a blow in the 51st minute when Simone Rota was shown a direct red card for his foul on Trong Hoang.
Two minutes later, disaster struck Kaya when Masanari Omura was also given his marching orders for a tackle on Trong Hoang, and Caique duly stepped up to curl in the free-kick from outside the box into the top right corner of the net to break the deadlock.
Nguyen Trong Dai should have doubled Viettel’s lead in the 70th minute when Caique set the unmarked 24-year-old for the finish, but he couldn’t get his effort on target, before missing again from almost the same spot five minutes later as the Vietnamese side held on for the win.
