Vietnam men"s football team defeat Singapore

Nguyen Van Tung celebrates after opening the scoreline for the second consecutive match. (Photo: VNA)

Phnom Penh – Vietnam’s U22s won a 3-1 victory against Singapore in their second match in Group B at the 32nd SEA Games men's football tournament.

The Golden Star Warriors got another three points courtesy of Nguyen Van Tung and Nguyen Thai Son, and an own goal from a Singaporean defender.

However, a clumsy last-minute own goal from Vu Tien Long denied Philippe Troussier and his team a flawless performance and proved to be a thorn in Vietnam’s side during their post-match analysis.

Contrary to their first match against Laos, Vietnam struggled to break through Singapore's defence in the game's early stages.

It took 35 minutes for the men in red to find the opening goal. From a decisive counter-attack, Le Van Do’s through ball found Tung, who fired home his second goal this tournament.

Vietnam continued to take control of the match and capitalised from a mistake by Fathullah Rahmat at the edge of the box. The Singaporean failed first touch rebounded to Thai Son, who scored marvellously from 18m and doubled Vietnam’s lead just two minutes before the break.

Troussier's men continued to push on, as Singapore's resistance seemed futile. Chances came for substitutes Khuat Van Khang, Nguyen Quoc Viet and Nguyen Van Truong but was squandered.

The third goal did come for the men in red, albeit not from one of their players. In the 79th minute, a low cross from Khang forced Ilhan Noor to backheel into his own net.

In the final minute of added time, a somewhat harmless cross by Singapore's Syahadat Masnawi met Long, whose clearance turned into a lob over his keeper Quan Van Chuan and went into the back of the net, granting Singapore their consolation goal.

With this result, Vietnam temporarily top Group B. The defending champions will have a five-day break to fine-tune their performance before facing their two toughest opponents of the group, Malaysia on May 8 and Thailand on May 11.