Nguyen Van Tung celebrates after opening the scoreline for the second consecutive match. (Photo: VNA)The Golden Star Warriors got another three points courtesy of Nguyen Van Tungand Nguyen Thai Son, and an own goal from a Singaporean defender.
However, a clumsy last-minute own goal from Vu Tien Long deniedPhilippe Troussier and his team a flawless performance and proved to be a thornin Vietnam’s side during their post-match analysis.
Contrary to their first match against Laos, Vietnam struggled tobreak 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 decisivecounter-attack, Le Van Do’s through ball found Tung, who fired home his secondgoal this tournament.
Vietnam continued to take control of the match and capitalisedfrom a mistake by Fathullah Rahmat at the edge of the box. The Singaporeanfailed first touch rebounded to Thai Son, who scored marvellously from 18m anddoubled 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 VanTruong but was squandered.
The third goal did come for the men in red, albeit not from one of theirplayers. In the 79th minute, a low cross from Khang forced Ilhan Noor tobackheel into his own net.
In the final minute of added time, a somewhat harmless cross by Singapore'sSyahadat Masnawi met Long, whose clearance turned into a lob over his keeperQuan Van Chuan and went into the back of the net, granting Singapore theirconsolation goal.
With this result, Vietnam temporarily top Group B. The defending champions willhave a five-day break to fine-tune their performance before facing their twotoughest opponents of the group, Malaysia on May 8 and Thailand on May 11./.
VNA
