Vietnam put four past Singapore in friendly match

With many new faces on the team, it was thought that Vietnam would face some difficulties. But that concern only came in the first 30 minutes, when Singapore defended in large numbers and played rough, making it hard for the hosts to create chances.

In the 37th minute, an individual effort of Nguyen Van Quyet brought Vietnam the opener. He recovered the ball in the midfielder and made a few touches before shooting from 25 m to beat Singapore keeper Hassan Sunny. This was his 15th goal in 52 appearances for the national team and the first since October 2017.

Singapore also missed many key players in this game. Perhaps both teams wanted to save the best for the upcoming AFF Cup as they are in the same group.

Coach Park Hang-seo put many new players on, especially in the second half when he subbed in three young players. One of them, Nguyen Thanh Nhan, only took four minutes on the field to score. In the 50th minute, Ho Tan Tai's cross forced keeper Sunny to punch the ball out and it found Nhan, who easily put it in the back of the net.

It's Tan Tai again 21 minutes later as he headed the ball into the top corner and made it 3-0 for Vietnam.

The fourth goal came to Vietnam after Singapore made a mistake. After winning the ball, captain and defender Hariss Harun took a risk to dribble inside the box but was intercepted by Khuat Van Khang and the ball went straight in, to everyone's surprise.

Coach Park applauded this goal as he was satisfied with the pressing effort from Khang, the youngest midfielder in the team.

"Many young and inexperienced players were used in this game, but I think the team played well. This is a chance for me to evaluate the level as well as the attitude of the players. Mission accomplished," he said after the game.

"Tactically, they are new players so they need time to adapt. But I think they have shown the determination to prove themselves."

With this win, Vietnam earned 3.05 points and protected their place in the FIFA top 100 rankings.

Vietnam will play another friendly against India on September 27.

 

 

Vietnam put four past Singapore in friendly match

Việt Nam 4-0 Singapore