Navibank cash in on Cup win

Nerves of steel: Navibank Sai Gon players celebrate after their penalty shootout victory over Becamex Binh Duong. Navibank won 10-9 to book a semi-final berth in the National Cup which will be held on August 10. — VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI — Navibank Sai Gon defeated Becamex Binh Duong 10-9 after a penalty shootout on Saturday to secure a berth in the National Cup semi-finals.

Coach Mai Duc Chung of Navibank Sai Gon had to play in defence for his team due to a number of injuries and suspensions.

The first half saw Binh Duong dominate on home turf with foreign trio Kubheka Philani, Leandro Da Luz and Joseph Obina all testing Navibank goalie Phan Van Santos. Philani opened the scoring in the 26th minute.

However, Navibank seemed to wake up in the second half and secured an equaliser in the 70th minute through Elokan Endene who stole past the Binh Duong defence to score.

Coach Nunes R. Manuel of Binh Duong made several substitutions to try and grab a late winner and ended the match playing four up front, but to no avail.

In the shootout, Navibank's players all converted there spot kicks successfully while Leandro, who signed for Binh Duong as part of a US$700,000 transfer, missed.

"I'm really satisfied with the result and the way my players did today. We were missing several key members of our team and Binh Duong are very strong. It is a big success which will encourage us for the rest of the season but we still need more time to grow, said Chung.

His team will meet Thanh Hoa in the semi-finals. Thanh Hoa also made it to the final four after beating Ninh Binh 3-1 in a penalty shootout. Their match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes.

In other games, former V-League champions Song lam Nghe An trounced Sai Gon Xuan Thanh 4-2 and are to play Hoang Anh Gia Lai in the next round on August 10.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai earlier won 3-1 against Khatoco Khanh Hoa in the fourth quarter-final match in Nha Trang. — VNS

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Japanese fall in love with Vietnamese village

When volunteering for the Japanese International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), two Japanese girls fell in love with the ancient unique
architecture in Duong Lam village.

Yamaguchi Yoriko and Inoue
Aiko work as technical advisors for preserving and restoring ancient
architectural works in Duong Lam village, which is Vietnam ’s
national relics.

After living with the villagers for nearly two
years, Yoriko feels the Vietnamese spirit from the village’s banyan
trees, wharf and old houses and has fallen in love with this land.

Meanwhile,
Aiko has turned into a country girl, following the farmers to the
fields to harvest rice and corn. She is also always ready to work as a
tourist guide and an interpreter and even prepare meals for guests.

As they are so close to the villagers, they show the Duong Lam villagers how to balance tourism, preservation and development.

According
to Aiko, Duong Lam’s attraction is not only in the beauty of its
ancient houses, but also because it has preserved the atmosphere and
feel of a Vietnamese village.

Ha Nguyen Huyen, the owner of a
160-year-old house and the first local person to open his house to
visitors, said volunteers like Yoriko and Aiko have helped Duong Lam
villagers to know the value of their houses and their home village.

Moreover,
JICA-funded projects have helped people in Duong Lam to develop tourism
on a sustainable basis and improve their living conditions.

Located
60km far from Hanoi city centre, Duong Lam village is the only
place to have an undamaged collection of an ancient Vietnamese village.

The
village has nearly 1,000 traditional houses. Of them, about 30 are over
200 years old and a few of them were built over 400 years ago./.

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Binh Duong set sights on V-League title

by Tien Thanh

Driven: Becamex Binh Duong's striker Philani (centre) vies for a ball during a V-League match. His team has promised to take back the V-League crown that has escaped them for years. — VNA/VNS Photo Quoc Khanh

HCM CITY — Two-time V-League champions Becamex Binh Duong have made their title aspirations for this season clear, revamping the team with some good players and working hard on the training pitch.

The new signings include Brazilian playmaker Leandro de Oliveira from Hai Phong and Nigerian striker Joshep Nwafor. Nwafor will fill the gap left by Brazilian-Vietnamese striker Huynh Kesley Alves who has left for Sai Gon Xuan Thanh.

Binh Duong's Portuguese coach Ricardo Formosinho told Viet Nam News that Leandro and Nwafor would help his team become more balanced than last year.

"We work hard every, thinking about the season and follow the plan we drew up before in order to increase communication and understanding among players and play well in the V-League. Everyday we think of that," said Formosinho, who came to Binh Duong after just one season with Dong Tam Long An.

Asked about the team's 2011 title chances, the Portuguese tactician said: "We will take it game by game and I want our players to be happy day after day." His main job was to convert Binh Duong into a really professional team in Viet Nam, he added.

The advent of Leandro has aroused many people's curiosity about how Formosinho will combine the Brazilian with Vietnamese American Lee Nguyen The Anh. Both are attacking midfielders.

"We are happy we have two very good players, Leandro and Lee Nguyen. It is certain that both of them will play in the same team," he said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Vu Phong is yet to recover from the injury suffered during the Southeast Asian football championship, but the midfielder said that he was confident he would play in Binh Duong's opening V-League match.

South African striker Philani, who is applying for Vietnamese nationality, believed Binh Duong had a good chance to win back the title this season because of the new players.

"We have many good players but winning back the title would depend on how well we play with each other," said the 32-year-old who has played football in Binh Duong for around five years. — VNS

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Thien cruises to junior tennis quarterfinal

Teenager Nguyen Hoang Thien cruised to the quarters-finals of the Viet Nam International Junior Championship after beating Denmark's Mikael Torpegaard 6-4, 6-2 in southern Binh Duong Province yesterday.

Thien, the top seed, beat South Korea's Lee Sung-hui 6-0, 6-1 in the boys' singles first round on Monday.

The 15-year-old will meet Sweden's Solberg Christoffer, who beat Vietnamese Ho Huynh Dan Mach 6-2, 6-4, in the quarters at Binh Duong's Becamex Sports Centre today.

On Saturday, Thien won the men's singles title at the International Junior Championships in the southern province of Bac Lieu.

Two years ago, Thien took the singles title in Binh Duong Province, but only managed third place last year.

Born in 1995, Thien first stepped onto a tennis court at the age of eight.

His target is to break into the top 200 in the world by the time he's 18.

He currently ranks 431st in the International Tennis Federation's junior rankings.

Santos says no plans for Binh Duong move

Goalkeeper Phan Van Santos says he has not signed a contract with the Becamex Binh Duong football club for the next V-League season.

"It is not true that I have signed a three-year contract with Binh Duong and I am currently under contract with Navibank Sai Gon," the former national goalkeeper told Viet Nam News, rejecting local reports about his move.

The naturalised Brazilian Vietnamese, known for scoring goals from free kicks, is on a four-day business trip to Singapore.

Santos, 33, who was granted Vietnamese citizenship in 2008, has played football in Viet Nam for nine years and is one of the most successful goalkeepers in the V-League.

In eight years with Dong Tam Long An, he won two V-League titles before moving to Navibank Sai Gon in the second half of last season. — VNS

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