Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Abbas Chaikh Dieng came back to haunt his former employers on Wednesday when the Senegalese striker grabbed a late winner against Song Lam Nghe An to make it four straight victories for V.League 1 champions Binh Duong.
Dieng, who played for Song Lam in 2012 and made three appearances in that year’s AFC Cup, struck in the 90th minute just when the Round 4 match in Vinh appeared destined to be a goalless draw and mark the first dropped points of the fledgling season for Binh Duong following wins over Da Nang (3-2), Quang Nam (4-2) and Dong Thap (6-1).
With five goals in four matches the early season form of the 30-year-old attacking midfielder will not have gone unnoticed by Binh Duong’s AFC Champions League 2015 Group E rivals Jeonbuk Motors, the 2006 ACL champions, and China’s Shandong Luneng.
The fourth participant in the group is yet to be confirmed and will be determined via the qualifiers, with Japan's’ Kashiwa Reysol, 2012 AFC Cup semi-finalists Chonburi from Thailand, and Hong Kong’s Kitchee, who made the final four of last year’s AFC Cup, all in the reckoning.
Chonburi entertain Kitchee on February 10 with the winner facing a tough trip to Japan to take on 2011 J.League champions Kashiwa a week later.
Meanwhile Hanoi T&T, who face Indonesia’s Persib Bandung in Preliminary Round 2 of the AFC Champions League 2015 qualifiers on February 10, were held to a 1-1 draw in their V.League 1 Round 4 clash away to Da Nang.
Nguyen Van Quyet earned the 2014 AFC Cup quarter-finalists a share of the spoils when he struck in the 66th minute to cancel out Ngo Quang Huy’s 15th minute opener for Da Nang.