VietNam Culture: Malaysia beat

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Malaysia beat Viet Nam 2-0 in AFF

Best foot forward: Midfielder Nguyen Vu Phong (right) attempts to get past a Malaysian defender in the team's semi-final first leg encounter of the ASEAN Football Championship, AFF-Suzuki Cup in Kuala Lumpar yesterday. Malaysia won 2-0. — VNA/VNS Photo Quoc Khanh

HA NOI — Striker Safee Sali's brace saw Malaysia beat Viet Nam 2-0 in the first leg of the ASEAN Football Championship AFF-Suzuki Cup semi-final yesterday.

The loss will mean defending champions Viet Nam will face a hard task in the second leg match at Ha Noi's My Dinh National Stadium on Saturday.

Although starting the game well in the first minutes, the Vietnamese side did little to trouble the well-organised Malaysian defence.

In the 15th minute, captain Minh Phuong launched a grass-skimming 25m rocket heading for the far corner, but Malaysian keeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat made a good save.

The hosts replied five minutes later when Safee's powerful header tested Vietnamese keeper Bui Tan Truong.

Midfielder Vu Phong closed the goalless first half time with a free kick in the 40th minute, which was pushed away by goalie Khairul.

After the break, Coach Henrique Calisto brought on midfielder Nguyen Minh Chau and striker Nguyen Viet Thang to try and force a goal; however, they failed to have much of an impact against Malaysia's well-organised team.

Safee gave Malaysia the lead in the 61st minute as his well-taken free kick beat Vietnamese keeper Truong.

Truong once again held some of the blame for the second Malaysian goal in the 80th minute.

Midfielder Safiq Bin Rahim in a rapid attack fired a 25m shot from the right hand edge of the penalty area, but despite Truong comfortably getting a hand to ball, the Vietnamese contrived to palm it out to a borderline off-side Safee who doubled his goals for the night with a nicely placed shot through the despairing Vietnamese keeper.

Despite Vietnam attempting to rally for the last 10 minutes of the match, sloppy passing and a lack of urgency meant they created few chances of note.

Indonesia will host the Philippines in the other semi-final in Jakarta today. — VNS

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Malaysia look to beat Vietnam 2-0 today

Malaysian national football team at the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010

Photo: AFF

Malaysian experts and press are looking forward a 2-0 win over Vietnam today in the Suzuki Cup 2010’s first-leg semifinal before arriving at Hanoi to play the second-leg match.

But their former coach Wan Hassan, who used to lead Malaysia to the final at the AFF Cup 1996, admitted it was very hard to defeat Vietnam.

However, “it’s not impossible. We used to win them 1-0 in the opening match at the Sea Games in Jakarta in 1997.”

He advised Malaysia’s coach Krishnasamy Rajagobal to press in on the Vietnamese players, allowing them little space in between so as to frustrate their tactics.

“A 2-0 victory over Vietnam will offer Malaysia big advantage in Hanoi,” said Rajagobal. “However, we'll be careful and try to keep a clean score sheet because Vietnam desire to score.”

Rajagobal is worried his players are not experienced enough.

“Only ten out of 23 players who used to compete in Sea Games 25 are serving the team [Malaysia] while the rest here are around 19 or 20 years old and they need more experience.”

Malaysian media predicted a tough game for their side.

“I think the game may end in a draw,” said correspondent Harris Rajadin from Berita Harian. “Vietnam are strong and they eliminated Singapore with a single goal, set up just after only two passes.”

Correspondent Sayed Ismail from TV3 TV Channel forecast Malaysia have a 70 percent chance of winning the game.

“It is very difficult to defeat Vietnam, but I think Rajagobal will have good tactics,” said The Star Online’s correspondent Eric Samuel.

Devidner Singh from New Straits Times is confident Malaysians will win because “they are in Kuala Lumpur, not in Hanoi. I guess Malaysia will win 1-0.”

VietNam Culture