MISERY FOR VIETNAM IN HCMC CUP

The Vietnam FA, who had only recently appointed Henrique Calisto as the new head coach of the national team, will have to do a lot of soul searching in the next few months as they look to participate in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008.

For the AFF Suzuki Cup, Vietnam are in Group B against Thailand, Malaysia, and the first team from the qualifying tournament in Cambodia, which will be held next week.

Group A are Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar and the second team from the qualifiers.

At the International HCMC Football Tournament 2008, Vietnam did not have the best of start where even though striker Le Cong Vinh scored two goals, there was no denying Myanmar from stealing a valuable 3-2 win.

In the second match, Vietnam fared no better in spite of playing against the Republic of Korea’s (RoK) Junior Varsity squad, who had to make do with ten-men following a red card in the 31st minute.

Calisto made six changes to the team that lost against Myanmar, but the players did not combine well together and made a lot of bad passes.

The South Koreans finally scored in the 64th minute when Kim Hyo Gi headed home the game’s only goal while he was unmarked in the five-yard box.

“Our defenders played better than in the clash against Myanmar,” Calisto said. “But the strikers are still a big concern.”

In the third and final match of the International HCMC Football Cup, hosts Vietnam rallied to a better performance but just could not get the better of Turkmenistan when they fell to a 3-2 defeat.

Vietnam started well and drew first blood in the 16th minute before Turkmenistan struck back two minutes later.

The visitors then scored twice more in the 81st and 87th minutes before Le Cong Vinh reduced the winning margin in injury time.

The defeat for Vietnam was their sixth consecutive loss since Calisto took charge in April.