Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Hanoi: Group D hosts and top seeds Vietnam remain on track to qualify for next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup after securing a commanding 8-0 win over Southeast Asian rivals Singapore.
It was a night for the depth of Vietnam’s squad to shine as coach Mai Duc Chung made no less than eight changes to the side that trounced Syria 11-0 on Wednesday, ahead of more challenging fixtures against Iran and Myanmar.
With so many first team regulars, including star midfielder Nguyen Thi Lieu, watching on from the bench, Vietnam understandably lacked some of the gloss on display against Syria, but still proved far too strong for Chen Caiying’s Singapore.
Vietnam controlled possession from the outset, but their opening goal came with an element of good fortune as Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung’s heavily deflected effort beat the helpless Noor Kusumawati.
With the early pressure released, the hosts started to find their groove and were awarded a penalty when Kusumaati was adjudged to have fouled Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang. Huynh Nhu duly sent the keeper the wrong way to double Vietnam’s lead.
The host nation remained firmly in control and scored two more before the break, Vu Thi Nhung’s intended cross floating in, and Tran Thi Thuy Trang adding a sensational fourth by firing home into the top left corner.
Vietnam were once again on the front foot after half time, Huynh Nhu on hand to sweep home Bic Thuy’s pinpoint cross in the 52nd minute, before completing her hat-trick ten minutes later by punishing some poor Singaporean defending with a simple close range finish.
It went from bad to worse for Singapore when substitute Varatharaja handled the ball in the penalty area, with Bich Tuy stepping up to belt in the resulting spot kick and make it 7-0 on 67 minutes.
The eighth and final goal of the day was, however, arguably the pick of the bunch and came from substitute Nguyen Thi Nguyet when she tied the defence in knots before sending a sweet strike past the goalkeeper from outside the penalty area.
The hefty win means Vietnam, with the two wins from two, joins Myanmar on six points, with the two Southeast Asian sides seemingly destined to decide Group D’s fate in a winner-takes-all clash in the final Matchday on Tuesday.
But before that the hosts will need to overcome an Iran side fresh from a rest day and revitalized by their own 6-0 hammering of Singapore, who themselves will wrap up their tournament with another difficult assignment in the shape of a Myanmar side fresh from a 14-0 win against Syria.
Vietnam head coach Mai Duc Chung:
“Singapore have improved since last year’s AFF Cup, but this was not our strongest eleven, and we played a lot of new players today. Today's goalkeeper was only 20 and hasn’t played any international matches before. We are trying to improve our youth programme. I don’t really care about the goal difference, I only care about the results. I am still thinking (about whether to play the strongest eleven against Iran on Sunday)
Singapore head coach Chen Caiying:
“Most of our players are part-time, some are students, some are working. We only train three days a week. Vietnam are on a different level. They are very professional, they have great understanding so, for us it’s a learning experience but, at the same time, I can see the progression (from Singapore’s 14-0 defeat to Vietnam in 2016)”.
Photo: Vietnam Football Federation