VIENTIANE (20 Oct 2011) – Vietnam emerged as Group A winners following their 14-0 thrashing of Indonesia while Laos took the runners-up spot after beating Singapore 5-0 in the final group match of the AFF Women’s Championship 2011.
The outstanding player in today’s match was Laos striker Souphavanh Phyavnah nailed personal best with four goals.
Needing at least a draw to progress to the semi-finals of the tournament in two days, Laos pressured Singapore right from the start and just five minutes in, defender Nuranis Mohamad was faulted for a foul on Johnny Sayasanh.
Sochitta Phonhalath had no trouble blasting the ball to the far left of the goal to beat Singapore custodian Noor Kusumawati Rosman for the lead.
The Singaporean girls tried to get out of their own half by pushing forward more and with the numbers they had in defence, they managed to hold out the onslaught from Laos for long periods.
Noor Kusumawati made several excellent saves to deny the home team a bigger lead much to the frustration of coach Han Wong Chol from DPR Korea.
It was not until the 33rd minute of play that Laos finally prised open the cagey Singapore defence when striker Souphavanh broke through to slot the ball under Noor Kusumawati.
Laos continued very much in the same manner they had done in the first half with Souphavanh leading the way with three goals.
In the 53rd minute, Souphavanh yet again broke through for the second goal while seventh minutes later, she capitalised on a defensive mistake to slot her third and Laos’ fourth.
Two minutes to the end, Souphavanh was on target again for the final goal of the match to seal their passage into the next round.
AFF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP 2011
(All matches at the National Stadium unless indicated otherwise)
GROUP A: Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos
GROUP B: Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines
16 Oct 2011: VIETNAM 9 SINGAPORE 1 / INDONESIA 0 LAOS 11
17 Oct 2011: MYANMAR 2 PHILIPPINES 0 / THAILAND 8 MALAYSIA 1
18 Oct 2011: SINGAPORE 1 INDONESIA 3 / LAOS 0 VIETNAM 4
19 Oct 2011: PHILIPPINES 1 THAILAND 5 / MALAYSIA 0 MYANMAR 8
20 Oct 2011: INDONESIA 0 VIETNAM 14 / LAOS 5 SINGAPORE 0
21 Oct 2011: Myanmar vs Thailand (1900 at Chao Anouvong Stadium) / Philippines vs Malaysia (1900 at National Stadium)
23 Oct 2011: Vietnam vs Runner-up B (1600) / Winner B vs Laos (1900)
25 Oct 2011: 3rd/4th (1600) / Final (1900)
