Hanoi FC celebrate beating Ceres Negros of the Philippines in the second leg of the AFC Cup’s ASEAN Zonal semi- finals. (Photo: the-afc.com)

The game was held at Hang Day Stadium in Hanoi on June 25.

Earlier, Hanoi drew 1-1 with Ceres Negros in Bacolod in the first leg.

The two sides played carefully from the opening whistle. The visiting sideneeded a win to earn the right to move the event’s next phase, while Vietnamonly needed a goalless draw to secure their berth in the final due to the awaygoals rule.

The hosts played slowly in the midfield to strain their rival’s line-up beforecompleting long passes to striker Pape Omar.

Omar then had a chance to face goalie Roland Muller of Ceres Negros but hecouldn’t shoot due to the close mark of a midfielder from the visiting side.

In the 18th minute, Vietnam had another chance. Following confusion in thepenalty area of Ceres Negros, the ball came to Do Hung Dung but he struck thecrossbar, giving Ceres Negros a warning of what was to come.

During the first half, the capital team controlled the game, created manychances but they didn’t break the defence line of the visiting side.

After the break, the visiting side fought back strongly to seek goals.

However, it was Vietnam who had the opener.

In the 60th minute, Omar played striker and captain Nguyen Van Quyet in toscore the opening goal for Vietnam.

Just five minutes later, Quyet scored a screamer to double the home side’slead.

Stephan Schrock then seemed to narrow the gap for Ceres Negros as he got a freekick but it lacked accuracy.

However, Ceres Negros’ efforts paid off with a goal from Dennis Villanueva inthe 86th minute.

The pressure on the Vietnamese side increased in the dying minutes, however,their defence played every effectively to block all efforts of their rival.

Hanoi’s rival in the AFC Cup’s ASEAN Zonal finals will be decided after thesecond leg of AFC Cup’s ASEAN Zonal semi-finals between Makassar and Binh Duongon June 26.

In the first leg at home, Binh Duong defeated Makassar 1-0. - VNA