Football: Vietnam show title credentials with 3-0 win over Malaysia

HANOI – Taking pride of place in Vietnam coach Park Hang-seo’s trophy cabinet is the prestigious Heungin Medal, which was awarded by South Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol earlier in December for promoting friendship with Vietnam.

By the middle of January, there could be another medal to savour for the 65-year-old South Korean tactician, who will be leaving his post after a highly successive stint with Vietnam that began in 2017.

The Golden Star Warriors sent a signal of their Asean Football Federation Championship title credentials with a 3-0 win over Malaysia at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi on Tuesday.

The result took the 2018 champions to the top of Group B with a maximum six points from two matches, with nine goals scored and none conceded.

Park’s team went ahead in the 28th minute when Nguyen Tien Linh beat Brendan Gan to head home a corner by Do Hung Dung.

Five minutes later, things appeared complicated for Vietnam when Nguyen Van Toan, who came into the side in place of 2018 AFF Championship Player of the Tournament Nguyen Quang Hai, was shown a second yellow card.

His second booking came after he impeded Dominic Tan to prevent a Malaysian counter-attack.

While that did not immediately stop Vietnam’s momentum as goalkeeper Syihan Hazmi denied Ho Tan Tai a chance to double Vietnam’s advantage, it was Malaysia who ended the half stronger.

Goalkeeper Dang Van Lam twice foiled Mukhairi Ajmal, who was one of just three players retained from the Malaysia side that defeated Laos 5-0 last Saturday. The others were Faisal Halim and Sharul Nazeem. 

But the game slipped out of Harimau Malaya’s reach when fullback Azam Azmi was shown a straight red card and conceded a penalty in the 64th minute.

Que Ngoc Hai made no mistake from the spot.

With the teams level on 10 men, but Vietnam two goals to the good, Park’s side delivered the goal of the night seven minutes from time.

Quang Hai, who plays in France’s second-tier league for Pau, came off the bench to deliver a delightful no-look reverse pass for Nguyen Hoang Duc to latch onto and dink over an on-rushing Syihan.

Despite the loss, Kim Pan-gon’s Malaysia remain in the hunt for a semi-final spot.

Like Vietnam and Singapore, they are on six points but have played a game more than their Group B rivals. Myanmar and Laos have no points after two and three matches respectively.

They will have to beat the Lions in a Causeway Derby at Bukit Jalil Stadium next Tuesday to remain in contention.

Before that, Vietnam will travel to Singapore to take on the Lions at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday.