HANOI (28 Nov 2014) – Vietnam pulled out all the stops to beat Philippines 3-1 on the night to win Group A of the AFF Suzuki Cup here at the My Dinh National Stadium.
With the full points, Vietnam have collected seven points from three matches – one more than the Philippines from the same number of games played.
Both teams will now wait for the results from the other group tomorrow night to see who they will play against in the semi-finals.
“We were going out for the win and we achieved that,” said Vietnam coach Toshiya Miura. “It is important that we maintain that winning mentality if we want to progress further in this competition.”
Vietnam started strongly in front of their adoring fans with Hoang Thinh Ngo delivering the lead early in the ninth minute. The Philippines tightened up their defence to peg the game at just 1-0 lead for the homesters.
The second half however saw Vietnam pushing hard to add to the score line with Vu Minh Tuan and Pham Thanh Luong finding the target in the 50th and 58th minute respectievely.
The Philippines pulled a goal back through Paul Mulders in the 59th minute.
“We tried a couple of things and it didn’t work out tonight,” added Philippines coach Thomas Dooley. “For us, it didn’t matter who we play against in the semi-finals. We will be ready.”
Zulham Zamrun enroute to scoring the fourth goal for Indonesia
In the meantime at the Hang Day Stadium, ten-man Indonesia pulverised Laos 5-1 in a match that had no bearing on the overall outcome.
Youngster Evan Dimas gave Indonesia the best of start with the lead after just eight minutes making good on a short pass from Cristian Gonzales before Rizki Lestaluhu doubled the advantage with a 20th minute grounder.
However in the 27th minute, defender Supardi Bujang was red carded by Iraqi referee Ali Sabay Al-Qaysi for a run on the speedy Soukhaphone Vongchiengkham.
Kampheng Sayavuthi did not disappoint from the spot as the scored remained at 2-1 to Indonesia’s advantage.
“The goalkeeper (I Made Wirawan) had an excellent evening. He made several crucial saves to deny Laos. The result did not reflect what happened on the night,” added Indonesian coach Alfred Riedl.
Despite being a man down, Indonesia still pushed forward and after some good work put in by Evan on the left, Rizki pounced on the cross to grab his second of the evening.
In the 82nd minute, Indonesia won their fourth goal of the game when Zulham Zamrun blasted the ball in from the far post as Laos captain Ketsada Souksavanh conceded an own goal right at the end.
“We let in seven goals in the first two matches and tonight we let in five,” quipped Laos coach David Booth. “I can’t defend this performance.”
