Winning big against U22 Timor Leste, Van Hau solves the problem for the attack

(Baonghean.vn) -Only having to face an underdog team like U22 Timor Leste, but thanks to the brilliant performance of a defender, U22 Vietnam had a smooth opening match.

Vietnam U22 defeated Timor Leste U22 not long ago in the 2018 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers with a score of 4-0 in a “water battle”. However, when they met at the SEA Games, coach Nguyen Huu Thang showed respect for his opponent by fielding almost the strongest squad.

Defender Doan Van Hau had a brilliant day of competition - Photo: Duc Dong

This is the lineup that brought success to U22 Vietnam in the U23 Asian qualifiers. The only surprise was that Hoang Van Khanh had to sit out to make way for a player who can play both as a center back and a holding midfielder, Duy Manh.

However, in the first few minutes, the attacking style that U22 showed still did not show any coordination. In the first 15 minutes, there were only 2 shots from Hong Duy and Tuan Anh.

It was only thanks to a tactical corner kick in the 8th minute that U22 opened the scoring after a close-range tap-in from defender Doan Van Hau. With an easy goal, U22 Vietnam continued to dominate the game against Timor Leste.

Vietnamese fans celebrate the goal of the boys in red - Photo: Duc Dong

Not only scoring, defender Van Hau also contributed an accurate cross for Ha Duc Chinh to head the ball in front, raising the score to 2-0 in the 20th minute. Next, Cong Phuong and Van Thanh had long-range shots. Unfortunately, all of them did not have enough force to endanger the Timor Leste goalkeeper. If Tuan Anh's previous shot hit the post, Duc Chinh's long-range shot in the 39th minute hit the crossbar.

The U22 Timor Leste strikers will regret not taking advantage of a rare moment of carelessness from the U22 Vietnam defense. Because right after that, Van Hau once again made everyone admire when mentioning his name with a "super product" from afar in the 41st minute, raising the score to 3 - 0 for 22 Vietnam.

Facing the weak resistance of U22 Timor Leste, U22 Vietnam still created countless opportunities in the second half. It is worth mentioning that all the opportunities were regrettably missed when players with high expectations such as Cong Phuong and Van Toan played quite poorly. Even when Quang Hai was put on the field to replace Hong Duy, the U22 Vietnam attack still made coach Huu Thang feel uneasy. With the hope of scoring more goals, the Nghe An coach withdrew Ha Duc Chinh to put Ho Tuan Tai on the field when there were only 20 minutes left.

Main striker Cong Phuong only scored 1 goal because he missed too many opportunities - Photo: Duc Dong

The presence of Quang Hai and Tuan Tai brought about visible positive signs. Just one minute after entering the field, Ho Tuan Tai coordinated with Van Toan on the right wing before putting Cong Phuong in an extremely favorable position, defeating goalkeeper Fagio Pereira to increase the score to 4-0. In the remaining minutes, Cong Phuong, Van Thanh and Van Hau had consecutive opportunities to face the goal but the number of goals stopped at 4.

Despite the victory over Timor Leste, coach Nguyen Huu Thang still had reason to be dissatisfied when U22 Vietnam received 2 yellow cards from Xuan Truong and Van Hau. At the same time, each striker missed at least 3 good chances against a weak opponent. With this favorable start, U22 Vietnam temporarily ranked first in Group B because in the match at the same time, U22 Indonesia and Thailand tied with a score of 1-1.

Trung Kien