Thai Son Nam revive quarter-final hopes with impressive win

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Following their surprise defeat at the hands of FC EREM on the opening day, the expectations around the Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City was palpable. Thai Son Nam sprung from the blocks in the opening minutes, eager to make amends and repay the faith of the returning fans. 

The first sign that things were about to fall in favour of the home side came after just twenty seconds with Pham Duc Hoa volleying his effort after Lukaian Baptista’s inch-perfect delivery. The ball sailed over the crossbar but the intent was clear.

One minute later, Thai Son Nam took the lead through Le Quoc Nam whose powerful left-foot curler was too much for Christos Apostolakis to handle. The home side then came close to adding to their lead, with Baptista and Duc Hoa combining yet again but the latter saw his low effort hitting Apostolakis’ right post. 

The Vietnamese then doubled their lead three minutes later, Tran Van Vu played a short corner to Nguyen Minh Tri who deceived the Vic Vipers defence with a dummy, steering the ball instead for Phung Trong to slot home.

The Australian side were made to weather further onslaught after a slick interchange between Baptista and Quoc Nam freed an unmarked Duc Hoa for his second with an easy tap-in five minutes later. 

Minh Tri was the provider again for Thai Son Nam’s fourth, laying off this time for Tran Thai Huy (pictured above, right) who feigned with his right foot to pull away from his marker before unleashing a left -foot scorcher, arguably the best of the half, three minutes later.

The home side would add a fifth before half-time when Scott Rogan was penalised for a tug on Iranian Hossein Tayebibidgoli (pictured below, left) in the area. The former Giti Pasand forward stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to give Thai Son Nam a healthy lead going into the break