Van Duc and Anh Duc speak up, Vietnam soon passes the group stage

In this match, Coach Park Hang Seo put many key players on the bench. Accordingly, Xuan Truong, Cong Phuong, Doan Van Hau and captain Van Quyet all sat on the field. Replacing them were Duc Huy, Xuan Manh, Hung Dung and Phan Van Duc.

With a 3-4-3 attacking formation, with Anh Duc, Van Duc and Quang Hai playing at the highest position, Vietnam Olympic team proactively attacked after the opening whistle but still maintained a certain level of caution to prevent risks because we did not know much about our opponents.

The first notable situation of Vietnam Olympic came in the 19th minute. On the right wing, Quang Hai crossed the ball very flexibly into the 16m50 area and Anh Duc tried to jump high to head the ball but it missed the post by a hair. After that, another individual effort came from Quang Hai with a decisive long-range shot but the ball still did not hit the target.

It was not until the next aerial situation in the 31st minute that Anh Duc succeeded. This time, Hung Dung pushed the ball to the left wing for Phan Van Duc and the SLNA star crossed it into the 16m50 area for Anh Duc to head the ball powerfully, sending the ball into the net while the Nepal Olympic goalkeeper was helpless.

Nguyen Anh Duc celebrates the opening goal. Photo: VNF

The first half ended with a 1-0 victory for Olympic Vietnam. Coach Park Hang Seo's players dominated the opponent from start to finish and created 4/12 shots on target but only successfully took advantage of 1 with Anh Duc's header. Olympic Nepal only had 2 shots towards Bui Tien Dung's goal.

In the second half, Olympic Vietnam almost had a second goal if Phan Van Duc had finished lower after a favorable cross from Vu Van Thanh on the right wing in the 57th minute. Immediately after that, coach Park Hang Seo made the first personnel adjustment when captain Van Quyet came on to replace Xuan Manh. And Phan Van Duc played as a winger, in the exact position that Xuan Manh left. And from here, Olympic Vietnam had another goal.

The SLNA midfielder made a beautiful pass to Anh Duc, who calmly handled the ball and then passed it inside to Van Duc, who was already in the Nepal Olympic penalty area, to make a left-footed shot that sent the ball flying into the net. Once again, Anh Duc and Van Duc showed their understanding when coordinating with each other.

Phan Van Duc has his first goal and 2 assists after 2 matches. Photo: Lam Thoa

From the 76th minute onwards, Cong Phuong, who had just come on to replace Duc Huy, had a chance to shoot towards the goal of U23 Nepal, but it was not dangerous enough to defeat the opposing team's goalkeeper. After Van Quyet, Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong were put on the field, Olympic Vietnam still played with 3 strikers and Quang Hai moved inside to play with Xuan Truong to strengthen the midfield.

The match was coming to the final minutes and the Vietnamese Olympic team seemed to be playing cautiously rather than risking to put all their efforts into attacking to score more goals. Meanwhile, Nepal was helpless in finding a goal to reduce the score.

In the end, Vietnam Olympic team won 2-0 with 6/20 shots on target, not too high, ball control rate 54% while Nepal launched 4/6 shots on target. With this result, Vietnam Olympic team officially passed the group stage of ASIAD 2018 with 6 points and goal difference of +5, all indicators are equivalent to Japan Olympic team. Therefore, the final match against Japan will be the decisive match to determine the top team in Group D.

Group D after 2 matches. Photo: Organizing Committee

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