Hai Phong eased to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Hoang Anh Gia Lai on Saturday in the second round of Vietnam's V.League 1. The away side, already showing signs of life after one win in two games, took control early and never looked back. Hoang Anh Gia Lai, winless in their opening two fixtures, could offer little resistance once the visitors found their rhythm.
G. B. Tran opened the scoring in the tenth minute, a quiet start to what would become a one-sided afternoon. Hoang Anh Gia Lai responded with pressure, and Ho Minh Di levelled just eight minutes later. To be fair, the hosts had their moments, but the balance of the game shifted when M. Makaric struck in the forty-ninth minute. That goal changed everything. By then, Hai Phong were playing with confidence, and the hosts had lost their footing.
The yellow cards told a different story. Nguyen Van Anh went off early at thirteen minutes, Nguyen Quoc Quang Huy at thirty-one, and Ho Minh Di himself at seventy-three. Three bookings in a single match for Hoang Anh Gia Lai suggested frustration, and the statistics backed that up. They registered seven shots on target and eight off, yet only found the net once. Hai Phong were more clinical, their two yellow cards coming despite fewer attempts on goal.
Makaric sealed the result with a second in stoppage time, ninety-two minutes in. The away end never stopped, and the hosts had nothing left to offer. It was a result that reflected the gap between two teams on very different trajectories. Hoang Anh Gia Lai sit bottom with zero points after two defeats, while Hai Phong's three points place them tenth and moving forward.
