In the semifinal clash at the Thong Nhat Stadium, the two teams were tied without a goal after extra time and the winner had to be decided through a penalty shootout which saw KL City FC goalkeeper Azri Abdul Ghani emerge as the team’s hero.

Azri guessed correctly when he threw his body towards the left of the goal post to save the home team’s seventh penalty kick taken by Bui Duy Thuong thus helping the team book a meeting against Indonesian club PSM Makassar in the final.

Earlier, Irfan Zakaria’s missed his penalty while Tran Danh Trung’s shot hit the crossbar in the first five kicks by both teams.

KL City’s winning penalty kick was courtesy of Akram Mahinan before Azri brilliantly saved Duy Thuong’s attempt.

The final match of the Asean Zone is scheduled to take place on Aug 24 with the venue of the match to be determined in the upcoming draw. The champions will then continue the challenge in the inter-zone semifinals.

For the record, this is the first time The City Boys squad has qualified for the final stage of the Asean Zone after ending a 28-year wait to qualify for the knockout round of the competition.

Yesterday, another national representative Kedah Darul Aman (KDA) FC’s dream to advance to the Asean Zone final was crushed after losing 1-2 to PSM Makassar in the other semifinal action.