Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Thu Dau Mot City: A pair of penalties from Becamex Binh Duong captain Nguyen Anh Duc proved the difference as the Vietnamese champions defeated nine-man Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea Republic 3-2 at Binh Duong Stadium on Wednesday to record a first win of the 2016 AFC Champions League.
Anh Duc netted his third goal in four matches inside the opening quarter of an hour before goals from Lee Jong-ho and Han Kyo-won in quick succession turned the tie in favour of Jeonbuk.
But Christian Amougou’s 35th minute equaliser gave the momentum back to the home side and, with the visitors down to 10 men after Kim Chang-soo’s sending off with 15 minutes remaining, Binh Duong were able to find the winner with two minutes remaining as Anh Duc converted a second penalty after Kim Hyung-gil had also been dismissed for the visitors.
“I’m sure that no one thought we could get this result because Jeonbuk is stronger than us, but it happened and we deserved to win,” said Binh Duong coach Nguyen Thanh Son.
“The whole team played well today and it was a really good game against a tough Jeonbuk team.
“We don’t set any targets on how far we can go in the tournament, we will just take it game by game.”
Undefeated in three AFC Champions League ties at home ahead of the Matchday Four meeting, Binh Duong took the lead after just 12 minutes as Australian Erik Paartalu was adjudged to have handled Robert Dang Van’s shot inside the penalty area following a corner kick and captain Anh Duc calmly rolled the penalty into the bottom left corner.
But the visitors responded, and after Leonardo had seen his free-kick hit the post from 20 yards and Han Kyo-won fired over from close range, Jeonbuk equalised after 27 minutes as Lee Jong-ho latched onto Kim Shin-wook’s header down from a Jang Yun-ho’s left-wing cross to steer the ball past Binh Duong goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong.
And the K-League Classic champions then went in front just a minute later as Han Kyo-won latched onto a lofted ball forward, out-paced the Binh Duong defence, tapped the ball away from goalkeeper Tan Truong who had come sprinting a long way out of his penalty area, and slid the ball home.
Choi Kang-hee’s side were not celebrating for long, however, and with 10 minutes remaining of the first half Tan Truong’s long ball up field was not dealt with by a hesitant Jeonbuk backline and Amougou took full advantage to surge into the penalty area and fire into the net.
The second half lacked fewer clear-cut chances, but Leonardo did have a golden opportunity to restore Jeonbuk’s lead after 70 minutes, but after the ball was laid into his path by Lee Jong-ho, the Brazilian could only hammer his shot into the side-netting.
Jeonbuk were then reduced to 10 men as defender Kim Chang-soo was sent-off for a second yellow card after a challenge on Le Tan Tai.
Both teams pressed forward in an attempt to take all three points and Amougou and then Anh Duc were denied by Jeonbuk custodian Kwoun Sun-tae.
But the Jeonbuk goalkeeper could do nothing about Anh Duc’s second penalty of the game with two minutes remaining after Kim Hyun-gil had been sent-off for hauling down Han Seung-yeop inside the area.
“Of course I’m disappointed in this result as it’s my responsibility if we lose the game,” said Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee.
“Our missed chances were the main reason we lost, I don’t think we played badly. We will do our best to reach the knockout stage.
“Having said that, I do think Binh Duong have improved a lot in the AFC Champions League and I admire their fighting spirit.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports