Despite having their eyes set on reaching the AFC Cup Zonal Finals, their efforts were just short of a late equalizer at the Hang Day Stadium to spoil the festivities of the home fans.
The first half of the contest saw Hanoi FC running riot over Ceres-Negros FC defense as a number of chances went begging for the home side. Despite missing those chances, they posed a huge amount of threat in front of goal.
It was on the second half of the match when the hosts found the opening goal. Nguyen Van Quyet, who seemed to have played the ball from an offside position, saw Pape Omar Faye in the middle who then slotted the ball past Rolan Muller.
Just nine minutes after that first goal, Manuel Herrera committed a costly mistake due to a poor first touch which was then picked up by Nguyen Quang Hai.
Faye took a shot but was blocked by Alvaro Silva only to find its way to Van Quyet who then blasted it past the keeper for their second goal of the match.
Mike Ott tried to salvage something out of the match on the 78th minute but his effort went curling wide. Curt Dizon, on the other hand, gave the visitors a lifeline after scoring on the 85th minute from the assist of their skipper Stephan Schrock.
That goal spurred a barrage of attack from the busmen to equalize late into the match but Hanoi FC had the answers to all of their efforts. In the end, the two-time PFL champions fell short and have shown the exit doors by the strong Vietnamese side.
With that defeat, they now steer their focus back to local football as they will face Mendiola FC 1991 on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium for their first PFL encounter.
Photo Credits To: AFC Cup Facebook Page
