Strong challenge: Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna (right) steals the ball from Vietnamese midfielder Pham Thanh Luong during his team's pre-season clash against Viet Nam at the My Dinh Stadium yesterday in Ha Noi. Arsenal ran out comfortable 7-1 winners. — VNS Photo Pham Kien

HA NOI (VNS)— Tran Manh Dung scored for Viet Nam in their 7-1 loss to Arsenal at the My Dinh National Stadium in Ha Noi yesterday.

The substitute scored his memorable goal in the 79th minute of the match, which was part of the European giant's tour of Asia this summer.

Dung received the ball from the right wing and made it fly over the Arsenal defence and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny into the left-hand corner.

His goal kept Viet Nam from going home empty-handed. However, it arrived after Arsenal had easily scored seven goals, with French forward Olivier Giroud scoring a hattrick in the first half.

Other goals went to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the first minute of the second half, Chuba Akpom – who entered the field from the bench and grabbed a double – and young defender Ignasi Miquel, who on Tuesday played blind football with students with visually-impaired children at Ha Noi's Nguyen Dinh Chieu school.

Viet Nam, as the host, received strong support from nearly 40,000 home fans who sold-out the stadium.

They also had several chances to threaten goalkeeper Szczesny, though most of their attempts were stopped from outside of the box.

Vietnamese goalkeeper Duong Hong Son gave a wonderful performance yesterday as he blocked a number of Arsenal's opportunities before he was replaced by Tran Buu Ngoc in the second half.

Unstoppable: The 20-year-old ‘Runnning Man' Vu Xuan Tien finally meets his heroes, including Mikel Arteta, on the Arsenal coach. — Photo arsenal.com

Heavy rain near the end of the match created difficulties for both sides and no further goals were scored.

It was the second pre-season victory for Aresnal who previously defeated Indonesia's Dream Team 7-0 on Sunday.

The English Premier League squad will bring home with them many impressive memories about Viet Nam, the people and especially the ‘Running Man', a frenetic fan who ran about 8km following the team's coach in order to express his admiration. As Vu Xuan Tien followed the coach, he was cheered on by the players as they chanted "Sign him up."

And despite bumping into trees and lamp posts along the way, he eventually clambered aboard a motorbike and reached the team's bus, where he received a standing ovation from the Arsenal players and even managed to get a hug off of manager Arsene Wenger.

According to The Thao&Van Hoa newspaper, the ‘Running Man' was officially invited to watch an Arsenal match during the new Premier League season, which kicks off next month. Wenger allowed Tien to choose whatever match he wanted at Emirates.

Arsenal's tour will continue with two matches in Japan next week. Their first match is against Nagoya Grampus on July 22 and Urawa Reds on July 26. — VNS