South Korean side Incheon United grabbed a group stage spot at Asia’s top club football competition Tuesday, after surviving a scare against an underdog foe from Vietnam.
Incheon defeated Vietnamese club Hai Phong FC 3-1 in extra time at home to qualify for the group stage at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League. This will be Incheon’s debut at the continental tournament.
Brazilian forward Hernandes netted the tiebreaker 10 minutes into the extra period at Incheon Football Stadium in the western city of Incheon, after the teams traded a goal piece in regulation. Gerso Fernandes, after setting up Hernandes’ goal, rounded out the scoring in the dying moments.
Hai Phong caught Incheon napping with their opening goal in the fifth minute. Forward Yuri Mamute snuck behind stationary defenders to receive a pass from Nguyen Hai Huy, charged into the box and fired a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Kim Dong-heon.
Incheon drew level a dozen minutes later, when Stefan Mugosa’s cross from left found Cheon Seong-hoon for a header that beat goalkeeper Nguyen Dinh Trieu.
Incheon kept pressing for a go-ahead goal, but Hai Phong pushed back in the late moments of the first half. Following a corner in the 42nd minute, Bicou Bissainthe struck the crossbar with a shot that could have put Hai Phong up going into halftime.
Gerso Fernandes came off the bench for Incheon to begin the second half, and he quickly changed the complexion of the match with his speed and dangerous forays into the box.
Mugosa found Fernandes with a pretty feed in the 50th minute, though Fernandes missed his target to the left.
In the 68th, Nguyen Dinh Trieu made a couple of match-saving stops to keep the match tied, first denying Mugosa on a header and then again on a follow-up shot off a rebound.
Hai Phong managed to lock things down on their end, apparently content to drag the contest into extra time and to possibly set up a penalty shootout.
But Hernandes, who came on in the 64th minute, spoiled that plan. On a counterattack opportunity, Mugosa sprung Fernandes free down the left wing with a throughball. Fernandes then crossed for Hernandes, who made no mistake with his right-footed shot.
Fernandes then got in on the act in the dying seconds, scoring into an empty net after Nguyen Dinh Trieu was caught well outside his position in an ill-advised attempt to move the loose ball forward.
Incheon will be among 40 teams competing for continental football supremacy. The draw for the group stage will take place Thursday at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.
The AFC’s flagship club tournament will shift from an intra-year, spring-autumn schedule to an inter-year, autumn-spring calendar. Group stage matches will kick off Sept. 18, and the champion will be crowned in May next year.
Incheon will be one of four K League clubs in the group stage, joining Ulsan Hyundai FC, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Pohang Steelers.
Teams in the West Zone, covering countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates, will be paired into five groups of four, from Groups A to E.
Those in the East Zone, coming from countries like South Korea, Japan, China, Australia and Thailand, will end up in Groups F to J.
Clubs from the same country will not end up in the same group.
The 10 group winners and the three best runners-up from each zone will advance to the knockout stage. The two-legged final will be played May 11 and 18, 2024.
Source: Yonhap News Agency