Dong Tam Long An exit AFC Champions League without a point

Vietnamese champions Dong Tam Long An ended their adventure at the AFC Champions League with a 3-0 defeat to Australia”s Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.

The defeat left Dong Tam Long An at bottom of Group G with six defeats, having failed to earn a single point.

Travis Dodd scored a hat-trick for Adelaide United, who also ended thei 2007 AFC Champions League campaign.

Dodd scored twice in the first half and another early in the second half.

The Vietnamese defence gave the hosts too much space in early minutes, which cost them. Dodd helped the hosts take the lead after just seven minutes.

Angelo Costanzo”s long ball found Lucas Pantelis down to the left and his cross set up Dodd to fire home the opener.

Fifteen minutes later, Dodd scored his second goal, slipping the ball under Dong Tam Long An”s goalkeeper Fabio Dos Santos after being released by a interchange between Pantelis and Dezi Giraldi.

Manager Henrique Calisto made an early substitution, bringing Nguyen Viet Thang on for Nguyen Van Hung on 24 minutes.

This seemed to work for the Vietnamese visitors with Antonio Rodrigues firing wide and Tshamala Kabanga rolling the ball past the right post with the goal at his mercy.

After the break, Dong Tam Long An made a promising start but it was Adelaide United to kill the game off.

Receiving Robert Bajic”s long ball down, Dodd beat the Dong Tam Long An defence with an impressive turn of pace before converting from a narrow angle for his third goal on 48 minutes.

The Vietnamese champions had some late opportunities with goalkeeper Santos narrowly missing the target with a free-kick from outside the box.

Dong Tam Long An failed to earn a single point from their six games. However, Mr Calisto”s men can exit the tournament, feeling proud of themselves as they caused difficulties to such strong opponents as China”s Shandong Luneng and Korea”s Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.

They were denied points in the closing minutes when hosting the two strong opponents at home.

Nhan Dan