VietNam Culture: Vietnamese players

Showing posts with label Vietnamese players. Show all posts

Monday, November 1, 2010

U19s win International Cup

The Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper's International Football
Championship Cup stayed in Vietnam for the second time after Vietnam's
U19 team defeated the Thai U21 2-1 on Oct. 31 in HCM City.

Despite being considered weak compared to their rivals, the host proved
that they could not be defeated by starting the match with effective
attacks from the very first seconds.

Nguyen Hai Huy's
opening goal proved their power in the first half. His 16.50m straight
shot made more than 10,000 spectators, including national head coach
Henrique Calisto, burst into happy and uninterrupted applause.

But Thailand were still a tough opponent throughout the
tournament. Their forward trio of Sokjoho, Hongthong and Anan forced the
Vietnamese players to work very hard to protect their net.

Thai tactics included rotating their positions in an aim to stretch
the Vietnamese defence to level the score. However, this effort proved
fruitless as they consistently had to back off to help their teammates
thwart threatening counter-attacks from the Vietnamese side.

Goalie Buu Ngoc worked hard to keep the Thais to one goal after
miscommunication between his teammates allowed a close-range shot by
Meesawad to be converted into the second goal of the match.

The sudden loss confused the Vietnamese players to such an extent that
Thai halfback Jungreed nearly scored a second goal a few minutes later.
But Ngoc continued with his heroics to block many other Thai shots
throughout the match. He was later voted as the best player of the
match.

In the 78th minute, Vietnam scored their
second goal in a rapid counter-attack. Van Quyet, who played in the
shadows for much of the match, passed the ball across the box to a
waiting Minh Tuan. His shot was punched out but the ball ricocheted to
Van Thanh who scored with ease.

In addition to the cup, the team was awarded 300 million VND (15,000 USD).

In the earlier match, the U21 Thanh Nien Newspaper team beat U21 Malaysia 1-0 to secure third place.

Substitute striker Hoang Nhat Nam scored the only goal of the
match from a free kick in the 82nd minute. The score would have been
higher if Huu Phat had not missed a penalty a short time earlier.

This was the fourth year the tournament was organised with
international teams. Vietnam 's first victory was in 2007 when they
defeated Thailand 1-0 in the final./.

Friday, October 29, 2010

U19 hosts takes dirty win over Singapore’s U21s

U19 hosts takes dirty win over Singapore’s U21s Vietnam’s under-19 team came from behind to beat Singapore’s under-21 squad 2-1 at the fourth International U21 Football Tournament at HCMC’s Thong Nhat Stadium on Monday.

Questions remain about the legitimacy of the win.

The young Vietnamese players’ performance left a pretty bad impression on the hometown fans in general and on the Singaporean visitors in particular.

The game began with an unimaginable blunder.

The Son, an unmarked defender, passed the ball back to goalkeeper Anh Duc who was standing a bit far from the goal. The ball sailed past Duc and into the back of the net.

Though Son was replaced immediately after the incident but the sudden goal placed the team in a dire mood.

At times, it looked like the Vietnamese didn’t know how to get the ball into the Singaporean penalty zone.

With a bit of luck, however, the Vietnamese boys claimed an equalizer five minutes from the final whistle. Quoc Phuong fired a shot that bested Singapore’s goalkeeper.

The point surprised the Singaporean players, causing them to lose concentration and allowing the Vietnamese players to take a second goal in the final minutes after a mix-up in Singapore’s penalty area.

The confused coup allowed the Vietnamese fans to heave a sigh.

Yet it was a sigh without relief. The gameplay turned just plain ugly, at times. Several deliberate fouls by the home players caused the fans to be more worried than happy about the final 2-1 victory.

“Today, I am pleased with my players’ fast performance,” said Vietnam’s team coach Trieu Quang Ha. “Yet my players were not psychologically well, especially after conceding the first goal because of an own goal.They are still very young, and that was why they couldn’t keep calm and that led to their fouls. This is what they need to improve in the future.”

Singapore’s U21 team coach Pathmanathan S/O Thambiayah struck a rather disappointed note.

“It was a hard game for my players,” he told reporters after the match. “I don’t want to comment on the referees’ work in this game. The result was not as good as we expected but that is football. One problem is that several of my players suffered serious injuries.

“My players did their best today, though. I want to congratulate the Vietnamese U19 team on the win.”

In other action, the Vietnamese team’s coaching staff, manager and players held a post-game meeting to discuss their performance.

Following the meeting, Team Manager Truong Hai Tung publicly apologized to the spectators and TV viewers for the young team’s failure to exhibit proper restraint. He admitted that his players had made deliberate fouls after the disheartening first goal.

The team’s managerial staff and the players promised to improve the situation in the coming games. Tung also apologized to the visiting Singaporean U21 team for the incidents in the game.

Thursday, October 28, 2010