Cong Phuong enters the field, Mito Hollyhock escapes defeat in extra time

The striker who grew up at HAGL's training center first appeared in an official match in J-League 2, Japan.

After four months of waiting, Cong Phuong made his debut for Mito Hollyhock today.

At 11am today, May 7 (Hanoi time), Mito Hollyhock will host Giravanz Kitakyushu in round 12. This is the first time Cong Phuong has been registered by coach Takayuki Nisiyaga to play, as a reserve. He wears the number 16 shirt.

Before the match, Giravanz were considered the underdogs because they had to play away and were four places behind Mito in the J-League 2 rankings (19th vs 15th). However, they were the team that opened the scoring thanks to Kazuki Hara in the 72nd minute.

In the losing position, coach Takayuki Nisiyaga continuously brought more strikers onto the field. In the 79th minute, he sent Miyamoto in to replace Sato and eight minutes later, he brought Cong Phuong in to replace Hosokawa. This was the first time the striker who grew up in the HAGL academy had played in an official match for Mito Hollyhock. He was also the second Vietnamese player to truly breathe the J-League 2 air, after Cong Vinh (playing for Sapporo).

In the minutes he was on the field, Cong Phuong played quite aggressively. He played on the left - which was also the starting point for the home team's equalizer, after a series of attacks.In the fourth minute of injury time, Yosuke Yuzama dribbled skillfully and passed the ball to Hiroshi Bandai who scored from close range, equalizing the score.

Playing for Mito Hollyhock has opened up a new door for Cong Phuong to be called up to the Vietnam national team later this month. Coach Huu Thang recently said he highly values ​​Cong Phuong's ability but is concerned that his lack of regular playing time in Japan will lead to him losing form and not being able to get a good feel for the ball if he is called up to the Vietnam national team.

Cong Phuong wears shirt number 16 in the reserve squad announced by Mito Hollyhock Club.

According to VNE