The original match scheduled for June 10 was canceled after five HAGL players had been taken to hospital with symptoms of the influenza A (H1N1) virus.
Wednesday’s clash was exciting because both relegation-threatened teams wanted a win to ease their situation.
The advantage of home soil earned HAGL an opener after 14 minutes with a goal from Evaldo Goncalves but HCMC Club’s Mario Romero and Ngoc Bao struck to make it 2-1 before halftime.
The home team regained the advantage with goals in the 56th and 59th minutes by Thai Duong and Tang Tuan before Minh Chuyen’s 64th minute salvo brought the two teams on equal terms again.
However, HAGL captain, Vietnamese American midfielder Lee Nguyen, made all the difference five minutes later.
HAGL can heave a sigh of relief as it has climbed one place to ninth, leaving the Ho Chi Minh City’s sole VLeague representative languishing at 12th spot just above Fourth Military Zone and Thanh Hoa at the bottom.
V-League has three more rounds to go and the last two clubs at the bottom are relegated to First Division while the team third from last has to play a play-off match against the third best team in the First Division for a V-League berth the next season.
Reported by Quang Huy |
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