Kuala Lumpur: Vietnam’s Công An Hà Nội FC are through to the semi-finals of the inaugural ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ after they edged nine-man Kuala Lumpur City FC 3-2 in their penultimate round Group B encounter on Thursday.
Le Van Do scored the decisive winner in the 91st minute as the Vietnamese side maintained their 100% record in the competition while Kuala Lumpur will now battle Buriram United and Borneo FC Samarinda for the remaining spot in the knockout stages on the final matchday.
Adrijan Rudovic and Paulo Josue had scored to give the hosts a 2-1 lead at the interval after Nguyen Quang Hai gave the visiting Công An an early advantage at Stadium Bola Sepak Kuala Lumpur.
But Công An scored through Bui Hoang Viet Anh and Van Do in the second half to secure the win as they made the numerical advantage count after red cards to Kuala Lumpur’s Kamal Azizi Zabri and Josue.
Kuala Lumpur began the penultimate group stage fixture brightly as Patrick Reichelt latched onto a brilliant ball over the top of Công An defence from Ryan Lambert before shooting over Filip Nguyen’s goal within two minutes.
But it was the visitors who went ahead in the 10th minute as Quang Hai brilliantly brought down a long ball from Leo Artur inside the box before firing his left-foot strike past Kuala Lumpur goalkeeper Hafizul Hakim to make it 1-0.
Miroslav Kuljanac’s side probed for an equaliser with Reichelt heading straight at Công An custodian Filip from a free-kick before the Vietnamese side finally found a way back in the 24th minute as Josue’s corner kick was headed in at the near post by Rudovic.
Filip had to tip another Reichelt header over his goal at the half-hour mark but he was unable to stop Josue’s looping header two minutes later as Kuala Lumpur gained the advantage.
Zhafri Yahya stole possession from Công An’s left wing-back Jason Pendant and played through Jovan Motika whose cross towards the far post was met with a well-placed header by the Kuala Lumpur captain.
Filip continued to be busy between the sticks for the visiting side and had to make a diving save to deny Motika in the 41st minute as the hosts finished the half strongly.
But it was Alexandre Polking’s Công An who displayed more attacking initiative after the restart with Hafizul parrying behind a curling effort from Artur in the 66th minute, although the V.League 1 side restored parity from the resulting corner kick.
Bui Hoang Viet Anh arrived at the near post to meet Quang Hai’s corner and cushioned it towards the far post and beyond the reach of keeper Hafizul to level the score at 2-2 in the 67th minute.
Kuala Lumpur were down to 10 men when Kamal kicked out at Công An substitute Nguyen Dinh Bac and received a straight red card after the referee was sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR to review the incident in the 76th minute.
The Vietnamese went close to taking the lead in the 82nd minute when Hafizul advanced off his line to deny Alan Grafite before Artur could not keep his header down from point-blank range on the follow up.
The Kuala Lumpur shot-stopper then did well to deny Van Do and Phan Van Duc before the hosts were reduced to nine men when Josue received the marching orders after a tussle with Tran Dinh Trong in the 88th minute.
Công An’s incessant pressure finally paid dividends when Hafizul saved from a Dinh Bac shot from inside the box but Van Do turned home on the rebound to send Polking’s side through to the knockout stages with a game to spare.
They will wrap up their group stage campaign against Indonesia’s Borneo FC Samarinda on 6 February while Kuala Lumpur will visit Thai League 1 side Buriram on the same day.
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