Le Thanh Binh of Vietnam (right) tries to pass Macau defender Hun Seng Kuai during their AFC U23 Championship qualifier on July 21 in HCM City (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam topped Group I, which saw the hosts beating Macau 8-1,in the second-round match of the Asian Football Confederation U23 Championshipqualification in Ho Chi Minh City on July 21.
In an unexpected result, East Timor made a big bang as they held titlefavourites South Korea to a 0-0 draw.
Facing a much weaker team, which is ranked 182nd in the world, 49 ranks lowerthan Vietnam, coach Nguyen Huu Thang made eight changes in his line-up, comparedwith the team that played during the first win over East Timor two days ago.
However, his altered team put in a good performance.
They needed just three minutes to open the score.
Midfielder Nguyen Van Toan’s shot was denied by the goalkeeper, but the ballbounced back towards Le Thanh Binh, who made no mistake and scored the firstgoal.
Toan then netted in a goal just four minutes later with a long finish to thefar corner.
National idol Nguyen Cong Phuong made it 3-0 from a penalty shoot-out at the10-minute mark.
Ten minutes later Binh completed his doubles after his solo performance fromthe left wing.
Midfielder Luong Xuan Truong, who was sidelined in the first match because of ared card last year, marked his name on the board after converting a penaltyinto the fourth goal for the hosts.
Defender Hoang Van Khanh headed in at the 27th minute to help Vietnam close thefirst half with the scoreboard reading 6-0.
The Vietnamese players continued to dominate the game in the second half. Theynetted twice in the second half, with midfielder Nguyen Phong Hong Duy and VanToan scoring in the process.
Macau, despite great efforts, failed to catch up with the host team.
They, however, found a goal to narrow the result when the Vietnamese defendersslackened a bit.
Ng Wa Keng ran quietly to the back of the Vietnamese players toreceive a ball. He slowed down, sliced on the field and headed it in straight intothe net after defender Khanh missed the ball in his attempt to head it out.
It was the first goal for Macau after two matches. In the first match on July19, they were defeated 0-10 by the Republic of Korea (RoK).
Meanwhile, it was the fourth win for Vietnam against Macau in their meetings sofar. In their last match, also at the Asian U23 qualification, Vietnam had won7-0 in 2015.
After two wins, Vietnam lead the group with six points.
In the earlier game, East Timor pulled off a major surprise at the Thong NhatStadium.
Last year’s first runners-up RoK also made eight changes to their startingline-up, with the intention of resting their key players for the final groupmatch against the hosts tomorrow.
Despite the changes, the RoK still controlled possession and created severalchances to score.
However, their strikers could not break through the East Timor defence, whoplayed with steely resolve.
Park Seong-bu and Cho Young-wook tested East Timor goalkeeper Fagio Augosto daSilva Perreira several times in the second half, but a goal was notforthcoming.
"It’s really a surprise result because the RoK are a very strong team inAsia.
They had many tall and good players; they used the long ball and myplayers are short, so I think that my team is lucky today,” said East Timorcoach Kim Shin-hwan during the post-match briefing.
"I agree that our trip in the RoK before the tournament proved useful, andwe continued to train hard after that using the same methods. I think that oneof the main reasons we got a point today is the high spirits displayed by ourplayers. They showed good motivation in this game," Kim was quoted assaying on the-afc.com.
The RoK, who were expected to top the group, are now placed second with fourpoints.
The RoK’s coach Jeong Jeong-yong was disappointed with the unexpectedresult.
"That’s football, sometimes you play well, sometimes you do not. We hadmany chances to score, but my players missed them all. Timor-Leste had a goodand deep defensive line and a good combination today, congratulations to them,”he said.
When asked about his plan for Vietnam, Jeong said the result was not good forhis team before the last game. However, he would require his players to trainhard and have a good preparation for the Vietnam game.-VNA
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