Vietnam defeats host Turkmenistan, enters AIMAG futsal quarter-finals

The 1-0 victory helped coach Miguel Rodrigo and his team finish second in Group A, winning a ticket to continue at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG).

Vietnam's futsal chances of advancing were threatened after losing 1-2 to Taiwan in the opening match. However, in the next two matches, coach Miguel Rodrigo's students played well to win Hong Kong 8-0, then Solomon Islands 2-1 to rekindle hope of reaching the quarterfinals before the final match.

Meanwhile, host Turkmenistan won all three of their opening matches to bag nine points and top the group. So, going into this match, a draw would have seen both teams through.

With a crowd of enthusiastic home fans, Turkmenistan started the game better and increased the speed of their attacks. However, the Vietnamese players always followed closely, not giving their opponents much space to handle the ball. This annoying style of play prevented Turkmenistan from causing much danger to goalkeeper Van Huy's goal.

After blocking the way into the opponent's goal, the boys in red launched a deadly counterattack. In the 15th minute, from a combination on the home field, Minh Tri unexpectedly sent a long pass over the line, putting Ngoc Son in a one-on-one position with the goalkeeper, and the player wearing the number 5 shirt did not miss the opportunity to shoot into the net to open the score.

The Vietnamese players did not start well but played better and better. Photo: Dong Huyen.

In the remaining minutes, the Vietnamese players proactively gave up the right to attack to their opponents, but showed their strong defense. And in that tight defense and quick counterattack, Vietnam almost doubled the score if a red shirt player's shot had not been denied by the crossbar.

In the opposite direction, the home players also hit the post once and missed a nine-meter penalty. They also launched a series of shots on goal, but goalkeeper Van Huy played excellently, keeping a clean sheet until the end of the match.

Despite winning against their opponents and having nine points, Vietnam still ranked behind Turkmenistan due to a lower goal difference.

However, this may be in the calculation of the Vietnam futsal coaching board to avoid meeting Uzbekistan, the fourth strongest team in Asia but surprisingly ranked second in Group B. The team that won Group B was Afghanistan, the easy opponent chosen by Vietnam.

The quarter-final match between Vietnam and Afghanistan takes place on September 23.

The order of the teams in Group A at the end of the group stage of futsal AIMAG 2017.

According to VNE