AFC Champions League Two
The Singapore side, who advanced 6-1 on aggregate after the first leg tie was awarded 3-0 to them by default, set up a meeting with either Bangkok United of Thailand or Australia’s Macarthur FC.
Coming in with a mountain to climb, Cong An Ha Noi almost went behind in the fifth minute when keeper Nguyen Filip spilled the ball from a vicious strike by Trent Buhagiar, with the midfielder then going around him and, with a gaping goalmouth presenting itself, shot just wide of the left post.
The Vietnamese side regrouped quickly, and strikers Alan Grafite and Leo Artur’s pressing kept Tampines on the defensive but the duo, except for a couple of missed attempts, was unable to find a way around the backline and make full use of their possession.
Play then went into a stop-and-start mode until the 36th minute, when Hide Higashikawa, off a pass from Shah Shahiran, jolted the visitors with a diving header from outside the six-yard box that zoomed past a flailing Nguyen and into the bottom right corner.
Cong An Ha Noi could have levelled the score towards the end of the half if not for an alert Yuki Kobayashi, who cleared the ball on the line after Hugo Gomes’ header had gone over 16-year-old keeper and tournament debutant Kasey Rogers.
Cong An Ha Noi started the second half strongly, with Nguyen Dình Bac’s shot from the right going across the face of the goal tantalisingly close to the left post and Grafite arriving just a moment too late to make a difference.
Their composure took a beating in the 52nd minute when Artur’s initial yellow card for a foul on Yuki Kobayashi was upgraded to red following a VAR review.
Dình Bac, however, stunned the home side just a minute later when he beat Rogers from the right but the first-half substitute’s goal was disallowed after another VAR review for an earlier foul by Alves Rogerio on Jacob Mahler.
Higashikawa then upped the stakes four minutes later when the striker went around defender Doan Van Hau at the top of the area and unleashed an unstoppable shot that flew past Filip and into the bottom left.
Another VAR review in the 77nd minute awarded a penalty to Cong An Ha Noi for Mahler’s foul on Grafite, with the Brazilian giving Rogers no chance with his perfectly struck spot-kick.
Buhagiar, however, put the game beyond Cong An Ha Noi’s reach two minutes later when he picked up a through ball from Shuya Yamashita, outran Le Van Do down the middle and slotted past Filip.
The Maltese international then had an effort in the 82nd minute ruled out for offside but it didn’t matter as Tampines cruised into the quarter-finals.
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