This season’s dominant club Da Nang advanced to the National Cup final after beating Binh Duong in a thrilling semifinal match Wednesday.

However, Merlo Gaston scored the equalizer for the home team before Huynh Quoc Anh put Da Nang ahead.

Philani scored his second goal of the match to tie the score at 2-2 six minutes from time, only for Gaston to put Da Nang ahead again. The pulsating last minutes of the match went down to seconds before the final whistle, and Philani’s hat-trick took the teams to a penalty shoot out.

Philani’s touch deserted him at the death, and two other Binh Duong players – Truong Giang and Duc Thien – failed to score while three Da Nang players Gaston, Molina and Thanh Hung succeeded in scoring from the penalty spot.

In the finals on August 29, Da Nang will play The Cong, who beat Song Lam Nghe An 4-1 in the other semifinal.

Da Nang is now well placed to take two leading Vietnamese football titles this year. In the nation’s top flight V-League championship, it has 46 points, 12 clear of second-placed Binh Duong, and needs only a draw in the four remaining rounds of the season to win the title.

If it happens, Da Nang’s 37-year-old coach Le Huynh Duc will be the youngest coach in Vietnamese football history to win both tournaments in a single season.

Reported by Quang Tuyen – Lan Phuong