The heavy rain not only caused the match to be postponed for about 30 minutes but also greatly affected the quality of the match. The wet pitch made it impossible for players from both sides to make short passes. Both Ho Chi Minh City Club and Ninh Binh team had to make long passes and appeared to be stuck.

Before the first half ended, coach Nguyen Viet Thang had to make a substitution to improve the attack. Young player Pham Gia Hung, who had impressed in the Hanoi Police Club (CAHN) shirt, was given a chance.

In the second half, coach Phung Thanh Phuong also made some personnel adjustments. However, the difference did not come when most of the attacking moves were long balls. The individual breakthrough efforts of the players of Ho Chi Minh City Club and Ninh Binh were also blocked by the opponent and… water.

In the 80th minute, Nguyen Thanh Loc had a dangerous tackle on Bui Ngoc Long and received a second yellow card. From then on, Ninh Binh Club only played with 10 men. Immediately, Ho Chi Minh City Club put pressure on goalkeeper Van Lam's goal. In the 83rd minute, Adriano Schmidt fired a close-range shot but unfortunately for the home team, Van Lam dived in time. In the following minutes, Ho Chi Minh City Club continued to put pressure but the opportunities created were not clear. Therefore, no goals were scored after 90 minutes of official play and the two teams had to decide the winner or loser in a penalty shootout.

In the lucky shootout, Ninh Binh FC won 4-3 thanks to the brilliance of goalkeeper Van Lam. After Thanh Thinh missed his penalty kick, the Vietnamese team’s goalkeeper successfully blocked it twice to help the first division representative advance.