Vietnam’s top-flight V-League champs Binh Duong Tuesday took an easy 3- 0 home win over Valencia from the Maldives in Tuesday’s Asian Football Confederation Cup match at Go Dau Stadium.

Binh Duong takes a big win

For the match against the Maldivian underdogs, Binh Duong’s coach Francisco Vital made several changes to last week’s losing starting line-up in the midfield and defense.

The Portuguese tactician’s decision to take Huu Thang and Minh Trung off the bench paid off with Thang proving strong in the midfield and Trung positioning well in attacks.

Vital replaced “iron” central fullback Nhu Thanh with Van Hai, because of the defender’s poor showing last week in the 1-2 away defeat to Singapore’s Home United. Hai proved exceptional alongside Helio.

Binh Duong took control of the match from the beginning, with Vu Phong and Trung on both flanks putting constant pressure on the visitors.

It was Trung who headed home a long ball from Phong to put Binh Duong in the lead after 12 minutes into the match.

Philani doubled the score for Binh Duong with a shot from the right flank that deflected goal-wise off a Valencia defender.

In the second half, Binh Duong continued its attack and made the Maldivian side’s defenders work until Brazilian Huynh Kesley, who was granted Vietnamese nationality at the beginning of the season, made it 3-0 in the 60th minute to destroy all Valencia hopes.

“They have made the fans happy again. After four consecutive losses, this win is very significant for Binh Duong before we encounter Dong Tam Long An in the V-League sixth round,” Vital said after the match.

In another Group H match, PEA of Thailand defeated Home United 2-1 to top the group with six points.

Hanoi ACB suffers bitter loss

In Group G, Hanoi ACB couldn’t surprise after their 3-1 home win against Malaysia’s Kedah last week.

The national cup holders didn’t gel in Hong Kong and lost 0-3 to Eastern Athletic.

Most of the Vietnamese players were quiet for the 90 minutes, hardly launching an attack while Hong Kong were relentless against a disappointing defense.

Manh Hung worked clumsily in the back end and scored an own goal after 16 minutes with two more goals in the 40th and 75th minutes.

In the same group, Kedah lost 0-1 to Thailand’s Chonburi.

Reported by Quang Huy - Lan Phuong