Hoa Phat ties New York students 3-3
Hoa Phat Ha Noi drew 3-3 with the St John"s University"s football team from New York in a friendly match yesterday at Ha Noi"s Hang Day Stadium.
The visitors opened the scoring just seven minutes into the game, when Alvarado Sebastian headed a well-placed corner kick.
The St John”s side, although an amateur team, dominated the match for the first 15 minutes, and launched a series of strong attacks on the 11th ranked professional V-League team.
Hoa Phat got back in the game back 12 minutes later, when midfielder Antonio Padilha unleashed a blistering shot past St John”s goalie Jason Landers to even the score.
In the 35th minute, it was 2-1 for the Vietnamese side, when Jucelio Da Silva headed a spot-on pass from left-winger Padiha.
Hoa Phat kept up the pressure in the second half, and managed another goal. This time it was William de Santos, who broke through St John”s defenders to the box and beat the goalie.
However, the hosts were unable to maintain their lead. In the 70th minute, the students” captain, Spanos Georgios, narrowed the score with a close-range shot. Five minutes later Stepan Jefferey tied the match at 3-3.
In an earlier game against HCM City”s Hong Bang Community-based College on Sunday, the New York team won 3-0. The team will play V-League”s Mitsustar Haier Hai Phong tomorrow.
The St John”s team has become a successful collegiate football team in recent years, and several alumni have gone on to play professionally in the United States.
During the team”s visit to Viet Nam, university officials signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Sports and Physical Training Committee to continue cooperating in the future.
A representative from the American team said Vietnamese athletes had been invited to play in the US, and said the team had pledged to return to Viet Nam for more games in the near future.
VNS
