Viet Nam News
SEA Games/Football
HA NOI — Doan Van Hau scored a double in Viet Nam’s 4-0 win over Timor Leste in the first round match of Group B at the Southeast Asian Games yesterday in Malaysia.
The defender shot his first goal to open the score when he caught the bounced ball in the penalty area after a corner kick by Nguyen Cong Phuong. A close-range finish gave no chance to East Timor’s goalkeeper Fagio Augusta at the eighth minute.
Hau secured his second goal just five minutes before the interval. He managed the ball and made a straight 25m shot into Timor Leste’s net, that Augusta stretched to his full height to the left but failed to block it.
The player who is a member of Viet Nam U-20 squad also created a chance for teammate Ha Duc Chinh.
Chinh who missed tons of opportunities in this match netted his only goal which was sandwiched between Hau’s winners. Hau sent a perfect pass into the box where Chinh flew near the ground and headed into the net.
Timor Leste tried hard to narrow the gap. However, they failed to break Viet Nam’s defence.
A 10-minute rest did not help them much.
Striker Phuong found no difficulty in raising the score to 4-0 at the 72nd mark with a low finish.
This was the second time that Viet Nam had beaten Timor Leste within a month. At the Asian U-23 Championship qualification, Viet Nam beat them with the same result.
Coach Nguyen Huu Thang was satisfied with the win but regretted the fact that his players wasted too many chances.
“It was a good match that my players could set up a safe result from the first half. The result reflects the happening of the match but Viet Nam missed many threatening chances. It is partly due to the poor quality of the turf that prevented players from showing their best skills,” Thang said at the post-match briefing.
“I am not surprised with Hau’s performance. Watching him regularly at the U-20 squad I have found that he usually scores beautiful goals from difficult angles like he did today. He is young but confident and hardworking,” Thang said.
“There are several things that need to be corrected. They lost their focus at some moments, and I have to wake them up,” he added.
On the other side, coach Kim Shin Hwan appreciated Viet Nam and said the win was a worthy one for his rivals.
The South Korean who last month said he would show a different team in the SEA Games, failed to keep his word.
This time, he said, Viet Nam were really strong and were the No 1 team in SEA Games.
In the match held at the same time defending champions Thailand drew Indonesia 1-1. Later, the Philippines beat Cambodia 2-0.
“Title candidates Thailand and Indonesia have only one point and rank behind Viet Nam after the first matches. But it is too early to say anything (about the semi-final candidate),” Thang said.
With this win, Viet Nam are on top the table and will play bottom-placed Cambodia tomorrow while Timor Leste will face Thailand. Indonesia’s next rivals will be the Philippines.
In Group A activities on Monday, Myanmar took advantage of Singapore’s lapse in defence to register a comfortable 2-0 victory and Malaysia enjoyed a good start with a hard fought 2-1 win over Brunei. — VNS