HCMC - V-League 2009 champions SHB Danang ended their remarkable performance in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup as they lost 3-5 to Al Riffa of Bahrain in the quarterfinal second leg at Chi Lang Stadium in Vietnam on Tuesday.
Al Riffa eased through to the last four of the AFC Cup as the Bahrain side won 8-3 on aggregate. The Vietnamese side suffered 0-3 loss to their opponents in the first leg in Bahrain last week.
Hussain Salman scored twice for the visitors while Hamad Alanezi and substitutes Abuda (Adailson Pereira Coelho) and Abdulrahman Mubarak also netted one goal each for their team while striker Sebastian Gaston Merlo made a hat-trick for the hosts but it was not enough for the Vietnamese side to overcome.
SHB Danang faced some difficulties when they had only 14 players and two goalkeepers in their line-up and coach Le Huynh Duc’s players showed poor performance in the first leg. Moreover, Danang failed to defend their title in the V-League last season, they just ranked sixth in the ranking table.
However, coach Le Huynh Duc welcomed back hotshot striker Sebastian Gaston Merlo for the Vietnamese side in the game. The Argentinean forwarder, who has scored five goals in the tournament so far, was suspended for the first leg in Bahrain last week.
Meanwhile, Al Riffa coach Jose Garrido was confident that his team would become the first team to reach the AFC Cup last four. Winning by three goals gave Al Riffa a big advantage ahead of the return game at Danang’s home ground.
The visitors placed more pressure on the Danang defending lines right from the start and Husain Salman opened the score for Al Riffa just nine minutes into the game.
After the goal, Danang bound back and created some scoring chances and Sebastian Gaston Merlo equalized the game in the 14th minute after receiving the ball from Phan Thanh Hung’s cross and Nicolas missed the best chance as his shot was denied by Al Riffa goalkeeper Mahmoud Abdulla in the 35th minute.
But the home side took an advance in the end of the first half as Merlo scored his second goal when he made no mistake in a penalty kick.
Al Riffa dominated the game in the second half as their forwarders put more pressure on Danang defending line and Husain Salman leveled the score for his team in the 51st minute
Danang’s hopes faded as Alanezi put the visitors in front shortly afterwards and first-half substitute Abuda extended the lead in the 72nd minute. However, Merlo completed his hat-trick in the 82nd minute before Mubarak finalized the at 5-3 in stoppage time to secure a 8-3 win on aggregate for Al Riffa.
SHB Danang advanced to the quarterfinal round of the AFC Cup after beating another Vietnamese representative Becamex Binh Duong 4-3 in the qualifying round. The former V-League champions ended their group competition as Group H’s winners with an unbeaten record, three points ahead of Port Authority FC from Thailand. SHB Danang were in Group H with Thai champions Port Authority FC, Wofoo Tai Po from Hong Kong and Geylang United from Singapore.
