NAYPYITAW (18 Dec 2013) – Vietnam booked their place in the final of the women’s SEA Games football competition after defeating Malaysia 4-0 at the Mandalar Thiri Stadium in the city of Mandalay this evening.
After a slow start to score one goal in the first half, the Vietnamese girls upped the pace after the break and added three more goals for a convincing win today.
Vietnam will either face defending champions Thailand or hosts Myanmar in the final here on Friday.
For Malaysia, the defeat was not entirely a loss as this the first time in 18 years they had qualified for the semi-finals.
In the first half today, it was Vietnam all the way. They had so many chances but only manned to pop one in.
Thi Minh Nguyet and Nhu Huynh formed a dangerous partnership that constantly harassed the Malaysian defence throughout the half.
After a few close shaves, Thi Minh finally forced the ball in. But their hopes of scoring more never happened and it was a tale of more misses for the remainder of the half.
Malaysia’s Norhanisa Yahya let loose a dipping shot from outside the box which hit the crossbar, bounce off the keeper and roll out.
Thi Tuyet Dung finally doubled the score in the 55th minute. She picked up a short pass from Nhu Huynh, side stepped a defender and coolly placed her shot in the bottom right corner.
Ten minutes later, Vietnam were three goals up. Thai Muon Nguyen smashed her shot against the crossbar, but Thi Minh picked up the rebound and made sure it went in.
Nhu Huynh sealed the win for Vietnam with a fourth in the 77th minute.
