Group H: Hai Phong cruise past Hougang
Hai Phong: Vietnam’s Hai Phong FC finished off their AFC Cup™ 2023/24 Group H journey with a convincing 4-0 win against Singapore’s Hougang United on Wednesday evening at the Lach Tray Stadium.
18/12/2023 10:27:03
Hai Phong end their AFC Cup campaign in second place, while Hougang United sit at the bottom of the group having lost all but one of their games.
The team that finished midtable in the Singapore Premier League offered little in the way of a challenge to the V League 1’s Hai Phong, who controlled the game from the off and had plenty of chances to further widen the scoreline.
The first big chance in the game came early inside the first ten minutes, with some brilliant link up play between Lucao and Nguyen Tuan Anh – the Brazilian passed to the Vietnamese on the flank, with the latter crossing the ball to meet the forward’s head, but he headed just wide.
Lucao then almost got the opener ten minutes later, when he received the ball behind the defence and controlled it with his head before letting it bounce and took the volley, but his shot was marginally wide.
Twenty-six minutes in, the home side finally opened the scoring through Martin Lo, whose skill was on show from first to last touch after he received the ball from Minh Di Ho, controlling it then knocking it past a defender before cheekily placing it past the keeper to make it 1-0.
Hai Phong bagged their second of the evening when Minh Di turned from creator to scorer, with Lucao dispossessing Kazuma Takayama who received a rather difficult pass from his keeper, squaring up Minh Di who slotted home to double the score.
The Vietnamese side’s third goal came in epic fashion, with a mix up in Hougang United’s defence as Le Manh Dung threaded the ball through their lines caused confusion as to whether substitute Joseph Mpande was offside or not, but the Ugandan took advantage and chipped the keeper who stood helpessly as the score turned to 3-0.
Hai Phong’s fourth goal was an own goal by their opponents, with a long ball sent into the area falling to Iryan Fandi’s head, with the defender attempting to head it back to his keeper to hold, he put a little too much power on it, with Zaiful Abdullah’s positioning betraying him.
Source: AFC
