Defending champions Becamex Binh Duong left it until the last minutes before beating Military Zone 4 in the opening game of round 17 of the premier V-League on June 19.

Binh Duong (red) beat Military Zone 4 on June 19.

At Military Zone 4 Stadium, Huynh Kesley Alves, who became a Vietnamese citizen several months ago, scored the game’s only goal in the second minute of extra time to lift his side to sixth position, on 23 points, two above Military Zone 4.

The other matches of the league will be organised on the weekend.

Thanh Hoawho grabbed only 13 points and stand at the bottom will struggle to avoid being relegation next season.

They will be desperate to improve their ranking tomorrow when playing T&T Ha Noi at Thanh Hoa Stadium and missing key players, including the suspended back Ha Duc and half back Alejandro Insaurralde.

T&T, another languishing at the bottom of the table, could field their strongest line-up, with the return of striker Le Cong Vinh. T&T, who were promoted to V-League last year, sit 12th with 18 points.

At Lach Tray Stadium, the 32-year-old winger Brazilian football star Denilson de Oliveira Araujo is likely to have his first outing for Hai Phong when his side plays two-time champion Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL).

Denilson, who is recovering from injury, is unlikely to be at his peak for the northern port city but his appearance will be motivation for a side missing striker Ngoc Thanh.

The visitors will be missing half back Duy Quang, who received two yellow cards against Da Nang last week.

But with top Vietnamese players and the team’s foreign trio of Thai Datsakorn Thonglao, American Lee Nguyen and Brazilian Evaldo R. Goncalves, they are confident of taking three points. HAGL were named the best team of May by the league’s organising board.

At Ha Noi’s Hang Day Stadium, hosts The Cong meet Song Lam Nghe An (SLNA), who have been sponsored by Northern Asia Bank. The race at the top will be closer if the visitors, second with 27 points, can win and leader SHB Da Nang are beaten at Thong That Stadium.

Football fans nationwide will hope coach Lu Dinh Tuan can get HCM City to upset Da Nang, who are top with 36 points, to help prevent the remainder of the season becoming meaningless.

HCM City, who are 13th with 15 points, face a tough task. They will be missing key players, including Van Tuan and Kim Long, while Da Nang’s Le Huynh Duc, who was named coach of the month for the third successive month, is able to play his strongest line-up.

At Long An Stadium, Dong Tam Long An will meet Nam Dinh, who haven’t lost in their five latest matches. The visitors’ hope to earn at least a point but it will be difficult as Long An usually perform well on home turf.

At Dong Thap’s Cao Lanh Stadium tomorrow, Dong Thap will want to avenge a 2-0 loss to Khanh Hoa in the first leg.

VietNamNet/VNS